Catharanthus roseus: Alkaloid Fraction Isolation and its Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don is an important medicinal plant through the tropical region. The present work focuses on multiple solvent extraction method for extraction of Serpentine and Ajmalicine. The purified bioactive compounds from Catharanthus roseus plant leaves have been evaluated for antimicrobial activity. Increasing polarity based separation is used for compound separation of bioactive compounds in column chromatography and identification has been done through spectroscopic analysis. The purified compounds were further taken for antibacterial assay. The maximum Zone of Inhibition was evoluted by ajmalicine against Enterococcus which was 1.7 cm and minnimum (0.35 cm) was by serpentine against Escherichia coli. Multiple extraction method is better approach for ajmalicine and serpentine separation using TLC and column chromatography which can be used as a potential drug against pathogenic bacteria.