Gc-ms analysis of <i>Pavetta corymbosa</i> lipophilic extract and its antimicrobial activity

Abstract

Pavetta corymbosa is a medicinal plant used as remedy for infectious diseases in Nigerian traditional medicine. In this study, analysis of chemical composition of lipophilic extract and the antimicrobial activity of the extract were carried out with a view to discovering effective phytomedicine. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC-MS) analysis carried out showed that 9-methyl octadecanoic acid- ethyl ester (22.6%), cyclotetracosane (15.3%), 2,4,6-trimethyl hexacosanoic acid- methyl ester (12.7%) and 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid- methyl ester (12.1%) were present as the major chemical components at the indicated percent composition. The antimicrobial activity on clinical susceptible, standard and resistant species was carried out using disc diffusion and broth-micro-dilution techniques as recommended by CLSI. The lipophilic extract showed significant antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus faecalis with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.624 mg/ml, whilst fungal species such as Candida albicans and Candida krusei had MIC of 1.25 mg/ml. The antimicrobial potency of the lipophilic extract is attributed to fatty acids/esters chemo types present therein. It was concluded that P. corymbosa lipophilic extract could be exploited as complimentary source of antimicrobial agents.

Keywords: P. corymbosa, antibacterial, antifungal activities, fatty acid methyl esters, GC-MS.