Phytochemical Screening and Antibacterial Activity study of Syzygium cumini (Myrtaceae) Seed Extracts

Abstract

Syzygium cumini is commonly known as jamun, jambolan, Java plum or black plum, is an evergreen tropical tree in the flowering plant from family Myrtaceae, and is one of the most popular fruits. It is planted in various regions spontaneous. It is native of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, China, Australia, Thailand, Kenya, Colombia, Mexico, United States of America, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The entire part of the plants has been widely used in the treatment of various diseases in the traditional and folk medicine. The edible part of fruits (jamun) contain vitamin C, gallic acid, tannins, anthocyanins, includes cyanidin, petunidin, malvidinglucoside and other components. The seeds of Syzygium cumini possess anti-diabetic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidaemic, psychopharmacological, anti-diarrheal, antioxidant and antibacterial activities. In this present study, the phytochemical investigation and antibacterial activity studies were carried out with using methanol, petroleum ether and ethanol extracts of the seeds of Syzygium cumini from the family Myrtaceae. Preliminary the phytochemical screening of all extracts revealed the presence of phytoconstituents like alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids, phenols, terpenoids, steroids and amino acids and absence of anthraquinone glycosides. The antibacterial activity of all three extracts was tested against some pathogenic bacteria using the Cup-Plate method. The different extracts of Syzygium cumini seeds showed inhibitory activity over Gram negative bacteria such asSalmonella typhi and Escherichia coli and Gram positive bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. The results showed that the methanolic extract was slightly more potent than the other two.