PHYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION, FT-IR PROFILING AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF PAPAYA (VAR. RED LADY) PEEL- A RICH SOURCE OF BIOACTIVE CHEMICALS

Abstract

Fruit wastes are produced in huge quantities which constitute a source of pesterer in the environment due to their highbiodegradability. To explore the potential of fruit waste as natural resources of bioactive compounds the present studyinvestigate the qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytochemicals, FT- IR fingerprinting and antimicrobial activity ofpetroleum ether, ethyl acetate, ethanol and water extracts of papaya peel collected from variety red lady. The qualitativephytochemical investigation of papaya peel extracts showed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins,saponins, terpenoids and steroids, whereas in the estimation, total amount of phenols was high when compared toflavonoids. The FT-IR spectroscopic investigation showed the presence of characteristic peak values with different usefulmixtures of functional groups such as hydroxy group, aliphatic, carbonyl, alcohols, phenols, alkanes, ketones, carboxylicacids, amine and aromatics. Among the four extracts evaluated, ethyl acetate fraction showed more numbers offunctional groups. The ethyl acetate and ethanol extract displayed increased antibacterial activity in all tested bacterialstrains and found as better solvents for the isolation of the bioactive compounds from papaya peel. Highest zone ofinhibition (20mm) was showed by Gram negative bacterium Proteus mirabilis against synthetic antibiotic tetracycline(24mm).