Sithembiso L. Ndwandwe¹, Mutendela T. Olivier² and Sechene S. Gololo^1,*

¹Department of Biochemistry, School of Science and Technology, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, Ga-Rankuwa (Pretoria), South Africa

²Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Technology, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, Ga-Rankuwa (Pretoria), South Africa

*Corresponding author: E-mail: Stanley.gololo@smu.ac.za

Sclerocarya birrea is one of many medicinal plants used in African traditional medicine for treatment of diabetes. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the ethanolic crude extract of the leaves of the plant species led to the isolation of a pure compound (CMP-1). The pure compound showed antioxidant and antidiabetic activities with average IC₅₀ values of 1.04 mg/mL and 46 μg/mL, respectively that were well comparable to the crude extract and known standards compounds, ascorbic acid and quercetin. The spectroscopic profiling of the purified compound revealed a flavonoid derivative structural skeleton. The findings of the study suggested that the flavonoid derivative compounds play a major role towards the medicinal value of Sclerocarya birrea.

Sclerocarya birrea, Antioxidant activity, Antidiabetic activity, Flavonoid derivatives.