The present work highlighted the production of violacein by the locally isolated Chromobacterium violaceum (GenBank accession no. HM132057) in various agricultural waste materials (sugarcane bagasse, solid pineapple waste, molasses, brown sugar), as an alternative to the conventional rich medium. The highest yield for pigment production (0.82 g L⁻¹) was obtained using free cells when grown in 3 g of sugarcane bagasse supplemented with 10% (v/v) of L-tryptophan. A much lower yield (0.15 g L⁻¹) was obtained when the cells were grown either in rich medium (nutrient broth) or immobilized onto sugarcane bagasse. Violacein showed similar chemical properties as other natural pigments based on the UV-Vis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry analysis. The pigment is highly soluble in acetone and methanol, insoluble in water or non-polar organic solvents, and showed good stability between pH 5-9, 25-100 °C, in the presence of light metal ions and oxidant such as H₂O₂. However, violacein would be slowly degraded upon exposure to light. This is the first report on the use of cheap and easily available agricultural wastes as growth medium for violacein-producing C. violaceum.

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− Callophylum symingtonianum (Guttiferae), an evergreen broad-leaved tree that usually grows in hill forests, can be found distributed in the Malay Peninsula. The barks, leaves, flowers and seeds is often used medicinally to treat diarrhea and rheumatism. In the present study, we isolated two inophyllum type coumarins, 12-O-ethylinophyllum D (1) and iso-soulattrolide (2) from the stembarks of C. symingtonianum together with their antibacterial activity. The compounds were isolated by chromatographic methods on a silica gel. The structures were established by spectroscopic methods including UV, IR, (1D and 2D) NMR and mass spectrometry as well as by comparison with several literature sources. The antibacterial activity of those compounds was tested using a disc-diffusion assay against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Both compound exhibited mild inhibition against P. aeruginosa with both 111 µg/ml MIC value. Compound 2 also inhibits S. aureus with 25 µg/ml MIC value.