Secondary metabolites profiling, biological activities and computational studies of Abutilon figarianum webb (Malvaceae)

Abstract

This research endeavors to inspect the chemical and biological profiling of methanol anddichloromethane (DCM) extracts prepared fromAbutilon figarianumWebb. Total bioactive constituentsand secondary metabolites were assessedviaultra-high performance liquid chromatography(UHPLC-MS). Biological effects were evaluated via antioxidant and enzymes inhibitory assays.The methanol extract was able to give the highest phenolic (51.92 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoid(72.59 mg QE/g extract) contents and was found to contain 11 bioactive metabolites, includingflavonoid, alkaloid, phenolic and fatty acid derivatives, as accessed by UHPLC-MS analysis. Similarly,the phytochemical profiling of the DCM extract tentatively identified the 12 different secondarymetabolites, most of these were fatty acid derivatives. The methanol extract was most active in theradical scavenging, reducing power and total antioxidant power assays, while dichloromethaneextract showed the highest metal chelating activity. For enzyme inhibition, the DCM extract showedthe highest activity against cholinesterases, glucosidase and amylase, whereas methanol extract wasmost active against tyrosinase. Docking studies have supported the observed biological activity, whereisobergapten showed higher activity against tyrosinase (−7.63 kcal/mol) with inhibition constant(2.55μM), as opposed to other enzymes. The observed antioxidant and inhibitory potentials ofA. figarianumagainst the studied enzymes tend to endorse this plant as a prospective source ofbioactive phytochemicals.