Abstract:
In this study the seeds and leaves of the plant Eugenia jambolana, a traditional plant collected from Elkadaro area, Khartoum state, Sudan, was extracted with ethanol and water and the leaves were also hydrodistilled for volatile oil. Antimicrobial activity was conducted for the crude extracts and the isolated compounds.
Phytochemical screening showed positive results for flavonoids, tannins, steroids for both extracts and positive for alkaloids for only ethanolic extract of the seeds.
Three compounds designated F1, F2 and F3 were isolated utilizing chromatographic techniques from the ethanolic extract of the seeds, the ethyl acetate extract and the aqueous ethanolic extract of the leaves, respectively. Tentative structures were deduced for F1, F2 and F3 from IR, UV and MS as p-methoxyl benzoic acid (F1), 6-acetyl 3 ̀ , 5 ̀ -dimethoxy 5-hydroxy flavone (F2) and 7-acetyl 4 ̀ -ethoxy 3 ̀, 5 ̀, 6-trimethoxy -dihydroflavonol (F3), respectively.
The seeds and the leaves crude extracts were found active when assayed against five bacterial and two fungi microorganisms. For pure structures F1 showed activity only against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aurous bacteria, while F2 and F3 possessed more antibacterial and antifungal activity.
The volatile oil from the dry leaves of E. jambolana showed a complex mixture when analyzed by GC-MS. Thirty two compounds, most of them are terpenoids were identified when comparing their mass spectra with the spectrometer
