1.0 Introduction
The ultimate aim of scientific investigation about plants is to make active ingredients which are very useful in production of some chemical compounds which on the other hand contribute immensely in enhancing the standard of some chemical industries in Nigeria and the world at large. Most of these chemical compounds are used largely in production of modern commercially proven drugs used in arresting ailments for health need of the people. These drugs were used initially in crude form and equally used for traditional healing practices or for other purposes that suggested potentially useful for biological activities.
The primary benefits of using plant derived medicines are that they are relatively safer than synthetic alternatives, offering profound therapeutic benefits and more affordable treatment (Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000). The prevalence of bioactive principles such as tannins, alkaloids, glycosisdes, terpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, etc underscores the need for continuous search for bioactive or active ingredients extracted from plants, though some of the active ingredients of crude rugs become obsolete because of the drug resistant problems.
The consequence of drug resistant implies that new techniques will be adopted to meet up with the resistance of the drug by diseases. Most bioactive compounds of natural origin are secondary metabolites (that is species). Species chemical agents that can be grouped into various categories. A tropical protocol to isolate a pure chemical agent from natural origin is bio assay guided fractionation, meaning step by step separation of extracted components based on differences in their physiochemical properties and assessing their bioactivity followed by separation and assaying.
In most cases, biologically active compounds have not been determined, therefore it is important to use chromatographic techniques to isolate, then analyze active components not only for the quality control of crude drugs but also for the elucidation of their structures and therapeutic mechanisms. Most of the drugs employed for the treatment of human ailments are obtained by extraction either by infusion or decoction process using water, natural gin of palm wine as solvents. Correct selection of solvent is vital in the study of activities of plants constituents or active ingredients.
Presently, scientific and technological advancement have made possible in the investigation of a large number of medicinal plants employing a systematic screening method using chromatographic techniques and spectroscopic techniques to establish the actual effects. Among the many plants understudy in this research, Anchomanes difformis. Thus, the quest for plant metabolites which help cure the diseases of man and give him a healthy living prompted a research into this study. The present study will isolate, identify and characterize the active principle in Anchomanes difformis. Extraction and isolation of bioactive agents from plant is one of the intensive areas of natural product chemistry and field is not yet exhausted.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
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REFERENCES
Van Wyk BE, Gericke N (2000). People's Plants; Briza Publ., Arcadia, Pretoria, South Africa.
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