Traditional & Alternative Medicine

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the damage of biological molecules resulting in aging and diseases such as Alzheimer, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders. Th e study aimed at determining the phenolic contents and antioxidant activities of Pterocarpus angolensis crude extracts and fractions. Th e crude extract and fractions of P. angolensis were evaluated for their phenolic contents. UV-Visible and FT-IR were used to assess the spectroscopic characteristics of the fractions obtained. Th e antioxidant activities were evaluated using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and reducing power assays. We obtained 7 fractions from the crude extracts aft er elution with various solvents on silica gel 60. Th e results showed that fraction two (PaF2a) displayed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity (18.7 μg/ml) but the lowest phenolic content while fraction three (PaF2b) exhibited the highest reducing power activity (44.28 μg/ml) with high phenolic content. Spectroscopic details showed that PaF2a had maximum absorbance at 287.1 nm while PaF2b displayed maximum absorbance at 288.2 nm. Th e infra-red spectroscopy showed a slight diff erence in the intensity of the spectra of PaF2a and PaF2b. Th is study has shown that PaF2a and PaF2b are the antioxidant rich fractions of P. angolensis stem bark and exhibited diff erent spectroscopic characteristics.