Abstract

Introduction: Clitoria ternatea (CT), (fam: Fabaceae), also known as Butter pea flower, is a medicinal plant used to treat various diseases. This plant contains a variety of plant metabolites including flavonoids. The phytochemicals present in flower extracts have been reported to possess various pharmacological activities that are beneficial for protecting the body against various diseases. The aim of the present work was to analyse, separate, and identify the phytochemicals and evaluate the antioxidant potential and antibacterial activities of flower extracts of CT. Methods:  CT flower was dried, powdered and macerated in methanol to obtain methanolic crude extract. The process continued by successive fractionation using solvents of different polarities to obtain n-hexane fraction, chloroform fraction, ethyl acetate fraction, and aqueous extract fraction. The phytochemicals present in the extracts were separated by TLC and HPLC methods. Antioxidant and antibacterial activities were evaluated by DPPH and in vitro well diffusion methods, respectively. Results: Phytoconstituents present in CT were separated and some flavonoids were also identified in chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions. Antioxidant and antibacterial results showed that ethyl acetate fraction was found to exhibit good antioxidant activity (IC50 value 0.11 mg/ml) and border antibacterial effect. Conclusion: The ethyl acetate extract of CT was found to be potent and could be used to isolate pure compounds that might be helpful in the development of antibacterial pharmaceutical entities in the future.

Keywords: Clitoria ternatea, Butter pea flower, Antibacterial, Antioxidant, Extract