Gas Chromatographic analysis of potentially bioactive compounds in leaf and root extracts of <i>Muntingia calabura</i> and their expected antibacterial activities

Abstract

The study aimed to identify bioactive compounds in <i>Muntingia calabura</i> leaf and root methanolic extracts. The Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) technique were used to identify bioactive compounds. GC-MS analysis revealed 38 compounds in the leaf and 15 compounds in the root methanolic extracts of <i>M. calabura</i>. The prime potent compound found in leaf extract is 2-{3-[(E)-2-(1H-indol-3-yl)ethenyl]-1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-yl}phenol with 5.78% peak area and cholest-4-en-6-on-3-ol is found in root extracts, has the highest 63.7% peak area and another potent compound Lupeol has 7.3% peak area. The bioactive compounds identified in <i>M. calabura</i> have antibacterial activity against various bacterial strains such as gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, which showed the efficacy of <i>in vivo</i> plant extracts. These findings validate the therapeutic potentiality of <i>M. calabura</i> leaf and root samples. Furthermore, these screened potential bioactive compounds can be used effectively for biomedical and therapeutic applications.