ABSTRACT
Noni is an erect, mostly branched trees, shrubs, or sometimes lianas which belongs to the family Rubiaceae. The family contain about 13,500 species in 611 genera, which makes it the fourth-largest angiosperm that are grown over the world. Morinda citrifolia grows in Nigeria, it is easy to grow and withstand harsh condition that certain trees cannot withstand. It can be used as a vegetable and medicinal plant. One part of the noni plant (Morinda citrifolia) that can be used is the leaves for the treatment of diseases caused by bacteria such as diarrhea. The purpose of this study was to determine the compounds contained in noni leave extract (Morinda citrifolia L.). In this study, Phytochemical screening using n-hexane and methanol extract consisted of alkaloid test, terpenoid test, flavonoid test, tannin test, and saponin test, steroids test, total phenolic compounds as well as antioxidant activity and total alkaloids content and this was carried out using established method. The results obtained from this test shows the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, and phenolic compounds in large quantity and steroid in very little quantity in both the n-hexane and methanol extracts. The antioxidant activity of the leave extract was also analyzed with the use of DPPH radical scavenging activity. The analysis was carried out for ascorbic acid and the noni leave extract. This process was done by varying the concentration in a range of 1mg/ml to 200mg/ml and by observing the %inhibition at these different concentration. The result obtained for the antioxidant shows that the leaves has a low antioxidant activity as the highest %inhibition of the leaves was recorded at 16.06% ,compare to ascorbic acid that showed a %inhibition as high as 53%. The result obtained in this study for the total alkaloid content of the noni plant extract shows the presence of 9.80% alkaloid. The present study clearly demonstrate the extraction, phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity and total alkaloid content of the noni leaves (Morinda citrifolia). It has been observed from this research that noni leaves possess promising medicinal properties, both methanol and n-hexane can be recommended for the extraction of plant materials for better results and the total alkaloids as well as the other phytochemicals present could be responsible for its moderate antioxidant activity.
