Abstract

Alchornea cordifolia is a widely recognized traditional African medicinal plant with a history of diverse therapeutic applications. It is employed in ethnomedicine for the treatment of wounds, gonorrhoea, conjunctivitis, diarrhoea, urinary problems, and gastrointestinal disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant properties, total phenolic content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the methanol extract of Alchornea cordifolia leaves. TPC was estimated by using the Folin-Ciocalteu colourimetric method with gallic acid as the standard, and the absorbance was measured at 750 nm. The quercetin spectrophotometric method was used to determine the TFC while the radical scavenging activity of the extract was assessed by using the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay as well as Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC). Preliminary phytochemical screening of the leaves revealed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, eugenols, steroids, terpenoids, and carbohydrates, but tannin was absent. The TPC was 106.10 ± 1.98 mg GAE/g while the TFC was determined to be 84.55 ± 3.34 mg QE/g. The IC50 values obtained in the DPPH assay were 2.99 μg/mLh for the extract and 1.32 μg/mL for ascorbic acid (the standard). In the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) analysis, the IC50 was 221.6 μg/mL for ascorbic acid and 246.8 μg/mL for the plant extract. These results underscore the potential of Alchornea cordifolia leaves as a valuable source of natural antioxidants, suggesting its significance in ethnomedicine.