Author(s):

Ezealisiji Kenneth Maduabuchi and Agbo Mathias Onyebuchi

Abstract: The use of African walnut, Tetracarpidium conophorum had been in existence for time immemorial among the West African coastal region and sub-saharan Africa. Ethno-medicinal uses of the above nut include remedy for stomach ache, sperm boost as well as treatment of bacterial infection. The aim of the study was to chemo-metrically profile the bio active principle present in n-hexane nut extracts of T. conophorum which will be useful in the justification of the ethno-medicinal uses and claims. Chemometric profile of n-hexane nut extract of T. conophorum was performed by using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS), (UV-2500pc Spec), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) model-8400S spec.) and GC-MS (model-QP 2010 plus Spec). The compound detection employed the NIST Ver.2.0 – year 2005 library. The biological activity are based on Dr. Duke`s phytochemical and ethnobotanical databases. Peaks corresponding to carotenoids and its derivatives were revealed by the UV-VIS spectroscopy. The FTIR spectrum confirmed the presence of alcohol, alkenes, alkanes, esters, and Carboxylic acid functional groups. The chemo-metric profile of the n-hexane nut extract of T. conophorum revealed eleven phyto-chemotypes with different pharmacological activities, overall, methyl (8E, 11E, 14E)- 8,11, 14 –icosatrienoate (31.61%) and Oleic acid (57.27%) was the prevailing compounds. Their presence provides important scientific evidence for their ethno-medicinal use and thus recommended as a plant of phyto-pharmaceutical importance.

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