Phytochemical Analysis, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activity of Crude Extracts from Selected Medicinal Plants.

Background: The search for potential natural bioactive compounds has been carried out for a long time.  Researchers working in the field of natural product chemistry are starting to realize the importance of  ethnomedicinal knowledge. Methodology: The aim of this study was to carry out preliminary analysis of different plants to understand their  therapeutic potential.To this end, methanolic extracts were prepared from four different plant specimens.  ntimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity assays were carried out at different concentrations of the extracts. Results: The highest percentage yield by methanol extraction was achieved from Sapindus murokosii.  Phytochemical analysis detected presence of different types of secondary metabolites present in these species.  Among the plants selected, Ficus religiosa showed the highest quantity of phenolics and flavonoids content  along with lowest IC50 and LC50 for anti-oxidant activity and cytotoxicity assay respectively.  Conclusion: The results obtained leads to the conclusion that the selected plants might be possessing strong  therapeutics which can be further analyzed for isolation and identification of bioactive compounds.