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1	Phytochemical isolation of compounds from the plant sceletium tortuosum Setshedi, Itumeleng Bridgette 11 1900 (has links) Traditionally, Sceletium tortuosum has been used as a medicine and for social and spiritual purposes. The genus is distributed in the south-western parts of South Africa. This project phytochemically analysed and characterised Sceletium plant extracts and determined if any extract showed anti-malarial properties. Extracts were prepared in ethanol and methanol and various compounds were purified using column chromatography with hexane and ethyl acetate as mobile phase. The structure of isolated compounds, including mesembrine, pinitol, sucrose, mesembrenone and obtusalin, was confirmed using NMR. The Plasmodium Lactate dehydrogenase assay was used to screen all extracts and mesembrine to show that four extracts showed antimalarial activity with activity values ranging between 1.47 μg/ml and 7.32 μg/ml, well below the 10 μg/ml cut off value. The study recommends extracting compounds from fresh plant material and further research as to anti-malarial activity of compounds isolated from Sceletium tortuosum / Life and Consumer Sciences / M. Sc. (Life Sciences) Sceletium tortuosum Mesembryanthemaceae Traditional medicine Compound stability San hunter-gatherers Traditional preparation Phytochemistry Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Obtusalin Pinitol Sucrose 615.321 Medicinal plants Traditional medicine Botanical chemistry