Phytochemical Contents, Characterization and Elemental Analysis of Pawpaw Leave Extract (Carica papaya)

Abstract

Traditionally, carica papaya (pawpaw) leaves have been used to cure so many diseases which include infertility. The carica papaya leaves were subjected to phytochemical screening using standard methods, elemental analysis was conducted using AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophometry), FTIR was used to elucidate the compounds detected and GC-MS was used for the qualitative and quantitative detection of the bioactive compounds. The results showed that flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, steroids, saponins and terpenoids were detected. AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) analysis in mg/kg showed the presence of zinc (26.19mg/kg), chromium (5.22mg/kg), iron (29.17 mg/kg) and manganese (7.92mg/kg) respectively. The functional groups identified in ῡ (cm-1) are 3354 (O-H stretch); 2924, 2853 (C-H stretch); 1736 (C=O stretch); 1619 (C=C stretch), while the result obtained from GC-MS analysis of methanolic extract of Carica papaya leaves revealed Δ -Tocopherol (32.835), γ - Tocopherol (33.671), Vitamin E (34.374), Neryl nitrile (31.817), Curan-17-oic acid, 2, 16-didehydro- 20-hydroxy-19-oxo (30.764). It can be concluded that the Carica papaya leaves extracted with methanol contains some elements such as zinc, iron and manganese and compound such as vitamin E along with the phytochemical. which are require for the treatment of infertility.