Abstract

• Plant materials have been used for the treatment of serious diseases throughout the world before the advent of modern clinical drugs. Saracaindica L. (Thawka) is an important indigenous plant with lots of traditional importance and has been claimed to possess various activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-diabetic etc. Therefore the leaf and bark of the plant has been chosen for the investigation of some biological activities. The samples were collected and identified. By phytochemical tests, carbohydrates, glycosides, organic acid, phenolic compounds, saponins, steroids and terpenoids were detected in the leaf; and alkaloids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, organic acids, saponins, starch, steroids, tannins and terpenoids, in the bark. Proximate analysis of the leaf showed ash (6.8 %), moisture (11.25 %), protein (13.24 %), fat (3.84 %), fiber (38.21 %), carbohydrates (26.66 %) and energy value (194 kcal/100 g ); and for the bark, ash (12.96 %), moisture (15.96 %), protein (5.55 %), fat (4.15 %, fiber (25.71 %), carbohydrates (35.67 %) and energy value (202 kcal/100 g). Antimicrobial activity was screened by agar well diffusion method on six strains of bacteria. The highest inhibition zones were observed on Pseudomonas aeruginosa (32 mm) and Bacilliuspumilus (30 mm)for EtOAc extract of the bark, followed by Bacilliuspumilusand Candida albicans(16 mm each) for EtOAc extract of the leaf. No activity was found in the PE and watery extracts of both of the bark and leaf. According to the spectrophotometric DPPH assay, the antioxidant activity (IC50) decreases in the order, ethanol extract of leaf (2.86 μg/mL), ethanol extract of bark (6.70 μg/mL), watery extract of bark (8.35 μg/mL) and watery extract of leaf (12.98 μg/mL), the reference used being vitamin C (1.17 μg/mL). Two compounds namely A (β-sitosteryl acetate), B(β-sitosterol) were isolated by SiO2 column chromatography and identified by FT IR.