Phytochemical Screening, Functional Group Identification and Evaluation of In vitro Antioxidant Activity of Ethanol Extracts of the Medicinal Shrub – Justicia adhatoda L.

Background: Justicia adhatoda is a potential source of natural medicine. In Ayurveda this plant is known as the ‘Vasaka’ that is well known medicinal plant which is used in treatment of various disorders. Given the well-established reputation of Justicia adhatoda as a medicinal plant, a phytochemical screening was performed to further investigate its composition and potential applications. Results: In the present study, we evaluate the preliminary phytochemical, FT-IR analysis, and antioxidant activity of Justicia adathoda. During the present investigation, the presence of carbohydrates, glycosides, proteins, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, sterols, terpenoids, saponins, and tannins compounds were established in J. adhatoda leaves. FT-IR analysis was performed to identify the various functional groups of the biomolecules found in the ethanolic leaf extract of the plant. Different wave numbers which correspond to different functional groups such as are present in J. adhatoda leaves having the presence of Hydroxyl group, Alcohols, Amides, Alkanes Aldehydes, Alkenes, Carboxylic acids, Aromatic compounds, Nitriles, Alkyl and Aryl halides. The results revealed that, J. adhatoda contains phytocompounds like phenols, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, etc. The results obtained from FTIR analysis are significant with the result of preliminary qualitative analysis. Antioxidant capacity was measured by Phosphomolybdenum method assay and Reducing power assay. From the results, it can be seen that the extract possessed a reducing capacity similar to the ascorbic acid and both of them showed an increase in absorbance. The plant extract possess good antioxidant activity and compared with the standard ascorbic acid. Hence the study could be saying that this plant has good efficacy of antioxidants. Conclusions: This study confirms the presence of medicinally important compounds like phytochemicals in J. adhatoda. The results could be saying that this plant has good efficacy of antioxidants and further research is needed to isolate, purify, and characterize them. This could lead to the development of new drugs or therapies based on these natural compounds.