Investigation of antimicrobial activity and chemical constituents of momordica charantia L.Var.Abbreviata Ser.

Abstract

The antimicrobial potential of the four extracts of Momordica charantia L. var. abbreviata Ser., including hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol-water 80:20 (v/v) extracts was screened against four bacterial and four fungal strains, using microbroth dilution assay. The chloroform extract showed the highest growth inhibitory activity with MIC = 200 μg/mL on both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis and MIC = 100 μg/mL on Aspergillus niger. Phytochemical study on the bioactive chloroform extract led to the isolation of four known compounds as octadecan-1-ol (1), (23E)-5β,19-epoxycucurbita-6,23,25-trien-3β-ol (2), 5α-poriferasta-7,25-dien-3β-ol (3) and 3-O-(6'-O-palmitoyl-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-clerosterol (4). Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 1D- and 2D-NMR, MS and in comparison with literature data. Here, such metabolites were reported for the first time from M. charantia L. var. abbreviata Ser.