South African Invasive Tree: Studies of the Chemical and Biological Profiles of Acacia Decurrens (Wild)

In this study, we aimed to profile the stem bark of Acacia decurrens biochemically. Extracts obtained by maceration were phytochemically screened, spectroscopically analysed with the aid of UV-visible, FT-IR, GC-MS, and, ICP-OES and subjected to primary biological assay. Spectra obtained from the UV-visible and FT-IR confirm the presence of n ® p* which are characteristic of compounds with oxygenated backbones such as the glycoside, phenols, terpenoids, tannins, and flavonoids. On further analysis, the chromatogram revealed the presence of thirty-five major compounds of which eight bioactive compounds had previously been isolated. The metal profile of the stem bark registered high concentrations of Cr, K, and Fe. Quantitative phytochemical evaluation showed, large amount of tannins (30.87 – 55. 81 mgTAE/g), steroids (13.92-41.2%), and phenols (40.6 - 65.5 mgGAE/g) in all fractions. The ethyl acetate and methanol fractions were found to be rich sources of antibacterial compounds with MIC value of 12.5 μg/mL while the chloroform fraction is a potent antioxidant fraction with IC50 values of 37.00 ± 0.06 g/mL and 42.20 ± 0.72 µg/mL against DPPH and ABTS radicals, respectively. The presence of these secondary metabolites and the hyper-tolerance capacity for metals can be exploited pharmaceutically and for phytoremediation purpose, respectively.