Isolation and Characterization of Bioactive Compound from Ethanol Extract of Root Bark of Grewia mollis (Dargaza’a) Widely Growing in the Wild in North Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

Grewia mollis is a plant, has been used as a source of food and in traditional medicinal preparations. Hence, the objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize the bioactive compound from ethanol extract of root bark of Grewia mollis (Dargaza’a) widely growing in the wild in North Eastern Nigeria using standard methods. The isolated compounds were also subjected to antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic assay. The isolation from the ethanol extract afforded a compound B that showed some degree of bioactivities. Compound B isolated showed good antioxidant activity by bioautography method. For the cytotoxic activity the result revealed that Compound B was moderately active with LC₅₀ value of 14.06 µg/ml. The result for the antimicrobial activity of the isolated compound B using bioautography showed moderate inhibition by inhibiting three of the test organisms. The structural elucidation of the isolated compound B were done using UV, IR, ¹H and ¹³C-NMR, DEPT and COSY and also by comparing the melting point and Rf- values of the isolate with the standards reference from literatures and compound B was found to be (2-(3,4- dihydroxyphenyl)-3,5,7-trihydroxy-4H-1-benzopyran -4-  one) (quercetin)