Spectroscopic studies of some selected anti-malarial herbal plants sample combined with multivariate data analysis

Abstract

Two spectroscopic techniques: Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) and Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier-Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and soil analysis were used to study and classify Anti-Malarial Herbal plants (AMHPs) from four locations (Abrafo, Jukwa, Nfuom and Akotokyere) in the Cape Coast metropolis. Deconvoluted peaks from the LIF spectra of the AMHPs samples showed compounds such as berberine, quercetin, flavanols presents in all the AMHPs samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed the AMHPs samples were similar in chemical composition to each other. The classification results (CR) obtained from the PCA models of the LIF spectra was used to identify the AMHPs samples according to their locations. The CR for the training sets was 100.00 % for Support Vector Machine (SVM), 99.95 for K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) and 99.23 % for Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). For verification sets SVM and KNN were 100.00 % respectively while LDA was 98.23 %. The ATR-FTIR spectra of the AMHPs samples were characterized by the O-H and N-H stretching vibrations (3200 cm- 1) as a result of carbohydrates and proteins while C-H stretching vibrations (3000 cm-1) as a result of lipids and carbohydrates. Lipids membranes and cell wall pectin absorbed around 1732 cm-1. Similarity analysis showed that the AMHPs samples were similar irrespective of their locations. Results from the soil analysis shows that soil properties from the four locations are similar and therefore confirms the results obtained from the two spectroscopic techniques