Preliminary Phytochemical and Anti-Bacterial Studies on the Leaf Extracts of Plumeria Rubra Linn

Abstract

Preliminary phytochemical screening and anti-bacterial activity of dried leaf extracts of Plumeria rubra using three solvent in the order of polarity (hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol) was investigated. The phytochemical screening performed on the crude extracts revealed that the three extracts contained saponins and steroids. Tannins in ethylacetate and methanol extracts. Cardiac glycosides in ethylacetate extract, phlobatannins, flavonoids, terpenes and reducing sugar in methanol extract. The crude extracts were tested for their anti-bacterial activity on some pathogenic bacteria. Almost all the crude extracts displayed higher inhibitory effects at the tested concentration (20mg/ml), against four species of Gram negative (klesbsieva pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescence) and ten Gram positive (Bacillus subtils, Staphlococcus aureus, Clostridium sporogenes, Staphlococcus epiderm, Bacillus stearothermophilus, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus anthracis, Streptococcus faecalis, Corynebacterium phyogenes, and Bacillus polymyxa) bacterial strains; hexane and methanol extracts were the most active of the three extracts of Plumeria rubra leaf.

Keywords: Phytochemical screening, anti-bacterial activity, Plumeria rubra.