GC/MS analysis of lipid constituents and antimicrobial activity of Arum cyrinaicum extracts

Abstract

Arum cyrenaicum belonging to family Araceae, it is a perennial herb native to Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region. The main objective of the paper is to isolate, identify lipid constituents and also to evaluation of the potency of different extracts of Arum cyrinaicum (AC) as antimicrobial agents. Different parts of the plant (roots and seeds) were extracted with n-hexane in a Soxhlet for 24 hours till exhaustion. The extracts were fractionated to acetone insoluble fraction, unsaponifiable fration and fatty acids fraction which were identified using GC/MS. The results of GC/MS analyses of seeds acetone insoluble fraction gave nonacosane (43.3%) and nonacosanol (37.74%) as predominants, while of roots showed the presence of nonacosane (36.1%) as the major hydrocarbons. The unsaponifiable matters of seeds revealed the presence of hexadecane (n-C16, 44.11%) and 9,12-octadecadiene (40.04%). While of roots revealed the presence of a mixture of hydrocarbons and sterols. The GC/MS analysis of fatty acid methyl esters of seeds revealed the presence of myrestic acid (62.9 %) as the main component, while of roots showed the margaric acid (29.2%) and myrestic acid (23.1%) as major acids respectively. The results of antimicrobial activity of different extracts ( using disk diffusion method with determination of inhibitory zone (I.Z.)) against of some microorganisms including G +ve, G – Ve bacteria and fungi proved that, the chloroform and petroleum ether extracts of stem, seeds and roots in addition to the butanol fraction of roots showed high effect against Gram -ve bacteria ( St. aureus).