Abstract

COMPARISON OF THE CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF MERRILLANTHUS HAINANENSIS

Qian-Cai Jiang, Shu-Qin Qin, Qi-Qi Wang, Zong-Jian Tan, Pan-Pan Liu, Hong-Mei Sun, Hao-Bing Liao, Yi Wu and Ren-Wang Jiang*

ABSTRACT

Merrillanthus hainanensis Chun et Tsiang is an endangered species of Asclepiadaceae family (currently considered a subfamily of Apocynaceae). The objective of this study is to investigate the medicinal value and compare the chemical constituents of the different parts of M. Hainanensis. This work is the first report dealing with the identification and characterization of volatile components in petroleum ether extracts from different part of M. Hainanensis. The stem, flower and leaves of M. Hainanensis were extracted by petroleum ether. The three extracts were analyzed by GC-MS which allowed the identification of volatile compounds. The antibacterial activity of these three extracts were compared by Agar disk-diffusion method. The results demonstrated that the stem, flower and leaves of M. Hainanensis showed similar antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. GC-MS analysis revealed that these three parts share the same major volatile components in petroleum ether extracts. In summary, the antibacterial activity and their chemical constituents are consistent to each other. This study provides the first scientific support to the medicinal uses of M. Hainanensis.

Keywords: Merrillanthus hainanensis, Chemical Constituents, Antibacterial Activity.