Abstract
Using medicinal plants as crude extracts for therapeutic purposes and understanding their pharmacological effects presents several difficulties. Further partitioning of crude extracts into components play crucial roles in understanding the pharmacological properties of their bioactive compounds. This study explored the biological properties of Combretum racemosum leaf, identified its bioactive compounds and molecular docking. Methanol extract of C. racemosum (MECR) leaf was prepared and successively partitioned into n-hexane (n-HFCR), ethyl acetate (EACR), n-butanol (n-BFCR) and aqueous (AFCR) fraction. Antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory properties were performed using standard procedures. Bioactive compounds were identified using GC-MS and HPLC following molecular docking. Results revealed that MECR contained significant amounts of total phenol compared to the fractions while total flavonoid was abundant in n-HFCR, EACR, n-BFCR, and AFCR. Radicals (DPPH, ABTS and LPO) scavenging ability was above 50% across the samples while only the fractions demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of amylase, glucosidase and sucrase. From this study, AFCR possessed better anti-inflammatory properties compared to other samples. Chromatography analyses revealed that both extract and fractions possessed varying concentrations of bioactive compounds such as lipoidal compounds and polyphenolic compounds. Docking analyses of the most abundant phytocompound (kaempferol) revealed strong binding interactions with human amylase, SGLT-1, SGLT-2, IL-6R, and trypsin. These findings have demonstrated the pharmacological potentials (antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory) of the methanol extract and fractions of C. racemosum leaf. A potential bioactive compound from the fractions of C. racemosum have been identified to possess strong molecular interactions with selected protein targets. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40203-025-00507-1.