Abstract

Seed of Annona cinerea grown in Nigeria was investigated for its secondary metabolites and antioxidant potential using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry GC-MS 2 2 - dyphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl DPPH and 2 6-ditert-butyl-4- 3 5-ditert-butyl-4- 1- oxidanylphenyl methylidene cyclohexa-2 5-dien-1-one Galvinoxyl respectively The antibacterial activity of the seed extract was evaluated on eleven 11 pathogenic bacteria using agar well diffusion method at different concentrations of the extract Twenty-seven 27 therapeutically active secondary metabolites were identified in the seed extract using GC-MS and the principal constituents identified were 3-O-methyl-d-glucose 52 14 -sitosterol 11 79 desulphosinigrin 6 16 and -tocopherol 5 84 The extract also displayed high DPPH and galvinoxyl radical scavenging activity with IC50 values of 5 0 and 100 gml-1 The zones of inhibition ranged from 10-30 mm against all tested bacteria The antibacterial index AI ranged between 0 5-25 This study demonstrated that the seed of A cinerea could be a potential source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agents