Phytochemical and Antimicrobial Screening of the Ethanolic, N-Hexane and Aqueous Extracts of Calotropis procera (Sodom Apple) Flower on Selected Pathogens

Abstract

Crude Ethanolic, N-hexane and Aqueous extract of Calotropis procera flower were extracted by cold maceration method, and investigated for the phytochemical contents. The flower contains various classes of bioactive secondary metabolites such as Alkaloids (++), Phenols (++), Tannins (+++), and Saponins (++) whereas Flavonoids (- -) were absent in all the three Solvent extracts. Antibacterial activity by agar well diffusion method against the various human pathogens were carried out. The microorganism used in this study include S.aureus, S.typhi, P.aeruginosa, C.albicans, and E.coli of concentration 50,100,200 and 400 mg/ml respectively. Zones of inhibition observed against the pathogenic strains were between 11-29 mm. All the three extracts of the flower showed broad spectrum of inhibition against the studied pathogens with exception of C. albicans, which showed no zone of inhibition (00). The Results revealed that the flower extracts of C. procera can be potentially used as an antibacterial agent against these pathogenic organisms. These results were sufficiently positive to encourage further investigations of the pharmaceutical applications of Sodom apple flower