Abstract

Senna siamea is a medium-size, evergreen plant which has been utilized as a source of food, medicine and other agricultural purposes in different communities. However, there is dearth of information in regard to its possible biomedicinal uses, especially in Nigeria. Thus the preliminary phytochemical analysis and thin layer chromatography (TLC) separation was done using methanol, n-hexane and ethyl acetate (1:3:1) as solvent system while iodine vapour as spotting agent. The phytochemical screening of methanol extracts of leaves revealed the presence of cardiac glycoside, flavonoid, saponin, alkaloid and tannins while chloroform extracts of leaves revealed saponin only. Ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts revealed absence of all these phytochemicals. The chloroform, ethyl  acetate and petroleum ether extracts of flower revealed absence of saponin, flavonoids, tannins and alkaloids but with traces of saponin and anthraquinones . TLC separation showed nine (9) spots each of chloroform and ethyl acetates, six (6) spots of methanol, three (3) spots of petroleum ether from leaves extracts. While, three (3) spots each of ethyl acetate and methanol, six (6) spots of chloroform were identified for flower extracts. No water spot separated from both leaves and flower extracts. From our findings, it can be concluded that S. siamea lam contains some significant phytochemicals that can exhibit desired therapeutic activities such as hypoglycemia, anti-arrthymia and antimicrobial. However, there is the need to conduct further pharmaceutical analyses on test extracts in order to establish these biomedical applications.

Key words: Senna siemea, thin layer chromatography, antimicrobial, phytochemical.