Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Pharmacy - Department of Pharmacognosy

Ficus is a genus of about 800 species of woody trees. It belongs to Family Moraceae, its common name is mulberry family and it is native throughout the tropics. Preliminary phytochemical screening of dried powdered leaves of F. macrophylla (Desf.) and F. lutea (Vahl.) revealed the presence of carbohydrates and/or glycosides, sterols and / or triterpenes, flavonoids, coumarins, nitrogenous compounds but tannins, iridoids and saponins could not be detected. The determination of percentage yield, physical characters and chemical constituents of successive fractions of the investigated plant leaves led to concluding that the yields of successive fractions of leaves of (Ficus) macrophylla (Desf.) and (Ficus) lutea (Vahl.) with different solvents are variable; fractions with nonpolar solvents being rich in sterols, triterpenes while polar fractions are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, carotenoids and flavonoidal compounds. The in vitro screening of the antioxidant activity of ficus macrophylla (Desf.) and Fcus lutea (Vahl.) ethanolic extracts (95 and 70%) using DPPH. led to the use of 95% ethanol extract as the crude extract in the present study as it possessed more inhibition percents in all serial concentrations than 70% ethanol extract

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