Preliminary Phytochemical and Anti-Bacterial studies on Flowers of selected medicinal plants

Abstract

The present study was aimed to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and antibacterial activity of the flower extracts of Albizia lebbeck, Cordia sebestena, Thunbergia gra ndiflora and Antigonon leptopus. Preliminary phytochemi- cal screening was done by the standard methods described by Harborne. Antibacterial study was carried out by disc di f- fusion method. The results of the phytochemical antibacterial screening revealed the presence of higher degree of chemi- cal diversity and antibacterial activity in the methanolic extracts of A. lebbeck and A. leptopus. Antibacterial activity is comparatively less in methanolic extracts of flowers from T. grandiflora which show the presence of only three groups of compounds (alkaloids, phenols and flavonoids). The methanolic extracts of A. lebbeck, A. leptopus and C. sebestena show the presence of several bioactive compounds. The isolation of the pure compounds and screening of the bioactivi ty of individual compounds of the flower extracts will give much information on the medicinal values of these plants.