Abstract
The stem bark extract of Ficus abutilifolia (Miq.) , an ethnomedicinally important member of the Moraceae family, was analysed with the three-fold aim of identifying its phytochemical components, determining its antimicrobial effects and efficacy, and isolating a component to be structurally elucidated by Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ( 1 HNMR) studies. Extraction was carried out by maceration method with methanol as the extraction solvent. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of the resulting methanolic extract gave positive results for carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, saponins, steroid, triterpenes and alkaloids, while the antimicrobial screening revealed bioactivity against Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , and Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The extract was found to be bacteriostatic (growth-inhibitory) to S. aureus , E. coli and P. aeruginosa with respective Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values of 25-, 50- and 25 mg/ml, but was bactericidal (lethal) only to S. aureus and P. aeruginosa with a common Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) value of 50 mg/ml. Column separation led to the successful isolation of a white crystalline substance with R f value of 0.25 using solvent ratio 1:4 of EtOAc:n-hexane solvent system. Studies on the FTIR and 1 HNMR spectra of the isolated compound revealed that it is a non-aromatic, non-conjugated six-membered lactone. Keywords: Ficus abutilifolia , antimicrobial screening, phytochemical, structural elucidation, isolation, stem bark, chromatography DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/10-6-05 Publication date: March 31 st 2020
Highlights
Medicinal plants constitute a promising source of pharmaceuticals but are far from being fully exploited
2.3 Preliminary Phytochemical Analysis of Plant Extract The plant extract was screened for the presence of carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, saponins, steroid and triterpenes, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, and anthraquinones, according to established procedures (Trease and Evans, 1989; Sofowora, 1993). 2.3.1 Test for Carbohydrates (Molisch’s Test) About 1.0 g of the plant extract was dissolved in distilled water and filtered
From the antimicrobial screening results, it was evident that the extract was bioactive against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Tables 3a and 3b) and the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) test results (Table 4) support this fact
Summary
Medicinal plants constitute a promising source of pharmaceuticals but are far from being fully exploited. There are several hundred thousand medicinal plant species. Ficus abutilifolia (Miquel) belongs to the Moraceae family, which is often called the mulberry family or fig family. Moraceae is a family of flowering plants comprising about 40 genera and over 1,000 species, most of which are widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, less so in temperate climates. The largest genus in the mulberry family, Ficus is a genus of about 800 species of woody trees, shrubs and vines (Mahbubur and Anamika, 2013). Several species of this genus have been reported to exhibit both antimicrobial and pharmacological activities (Sandabe et al, 2003)
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