An Antioxidant from Nature: Isolation and Characterization of Rutin from Pavetta crassipes K. Schum

In our world today, the ravages of sickness and disease is well known. Many diseases have been linked to oxidative stress, which is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and the biological system's inability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediate or repair the resulting damage. Research on antioxidants is accumulating evidence that they can reduce the incidence of oxidative stress. They work by neutralizing oxygen free radicals, the highly active and damaging atoms and chemical groups produced by various disease processes and by poisons, radiation, smoking and other agencies, hence controlling cell and tissue damage. This work establishes the presence of Rutin - an antioxidant - in an indigenous plant and its potency against a number of disease-causing microorganism. A simple and straightforward method of isolating it from the plant is described. This method gives excellent yield and is duplicable. The pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries will find this procedure interesting and quite useful as it addresses a problem peculiar to them.

Isaac Bello is a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he teaches Organic Chemistry. His research interests lie in the direction of Natural Products Chemistry, with respect to isolation of bioactive compounds from nature. He resides in Zaria with his wife, Lizzie and their young son Ronen.