Phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity of the methanol and chloroform extracts of Alchornea cordifolia

The leaves, stem bark and root of Alchornea cordifolia were separately extracted with cold methanol and chloroform. The extracts were then screened for basic phytocompounds and subjected to antimicrobial assays against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Candidas albican. Disc diffusion method was used to determine the antimicrobial activities of the plant extracts. Phytochemical investigation showed the presence of tannins, saponins, anthraquinones, flavonoids, sterols and cardiac glycosides. Few of the extracts contained anthraquinones and alkaloids; while no phlobatannin was detected in all the extracts. The zone of inhibition ranged between 0.5 and 20mm for the entire microorganisms tested. Generally the more polar methanol extracts of the plant exhibited more antimicrobial activity than the less polar chloroform extracts. This was implied by the zone of inhibition of the tested micro-organisms (16.0 - 20.0mm) which demonstrated that the methanol extracts have broad spectrum activity. The chloroform extracts had no inhibitory activity against C. albican and B. subtilis. The results of this study showed that the methanol extracts of the leaves, stem bark and roots of Alchornea cordifolia posses high levels of anti-effective agents. This gives credence to the trado-medicinal application of the plant as remedy for various infections.