| dc.description.abstract |
Chromatographic separation of an ethyl acetate extract from Embelia schimperi led to the
isolation of a new compound identified as 2,5-dihydroxy-3-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone (1) on
the basis of spectroscopic and physical data. The plant’s crude extract and pure compound 1
were assayed for in vitro antimicrobial activity against clinical strains of Salmonella spp.,
Proteus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Cryptococcus
neoformans, Shigella dysentriae and Staphylococcus aureus. Disc diffusion method was used
and zones of inhibition, after respective incubation periods, were used to quantify antimicro-
bial activity. Standard antibiotics namely: augmentin, cotrimoxazole, gentamycin, tetracycline
and lyncomycin were used as controls.
The crude extract was inactive while the pure compound 1 showed significant activities
against Salmonella spp., Proteus spp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Es-
cherichia coli, Cryptococcus neoformans, Shigella dysentriae and Staphylococcus aureus with
zones of inhibition ranging from 10Ð20 mm. The most sensitive microorganism was P. aerugi-
nosa while C. neoformans was insensitive to both the crude extract and compound 1 |
en_US |