DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 61-65

The air-dried powdered leaf of Dalbergia saxatil is was extracted with 95% ethanol to obtain the crude extract which was fractionated into acidic, basic, non-polar and polar neutral fractions. The crude ethanol extract exhibited a reasonably potent anti-oxidant activity in DPPH free- radical scavenving assay between 0.2 and 0.5 mg/ml. The crude extract and fractions were screened for antimicrobial activity against six pathogens. Among the fractions, the neutral hexane displayed appreciable antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, E. coli, K. pneumoniae and C. albicans at 200, 400, 400, and 600 µg/ ml, respectively. Column chromatographic purification of the non-polar neutral fraction followed by GC-MS analysis of the column fractions showed the presence of four phenolics and a pregnane derivative. Hydrodistillation of the fresh leaf gave essential oils which on GC-MS analysis revealed a number of volatile components including four terpenoids, and two fatty acid esters. These compounds may account for the observed bioactivities of the leaf extracts of D. saxatilis