Antibacterial and radical scavenger activities of extract and compounds of Wualae (Etlingera elatior) stems from Southeast Sulawesi

Abstract

Two known compounds, namely stigmast-4-en-6β-ol-3-one (1) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (2) are firstly reported from stems of E. elatior. Isolation were carried out by chromatography technique including Thin Layer Chromatrography (TLC), vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) and radial chromatography (RC) with silica gel as adsorbent and mixture of solvents as eluen. Structure of isolated compounds were determined by spectroscopy methods i.e. FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR and also by comparison the spectroscopies data with the same data from references. Biological activities of isolated compounds evaluated against some bacteria consist of Bacillus subtilis FNCC 0060, Escherichia coli ATCC 35218, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Salmonella enterica ATCC 14028, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, dan Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 and also against DPPH (2,2-diphenil 1-pichylhydazyl) radical as antiradical scavenger activity. The result showed that generally, antibacterial potency those samples i.e. methanol extract, stigmast-4-en-6β-ol-3-one and p-hydroxybenzoic acid less active than positive control (chloramphenicol). Individually, antibacterial activity of p-hydroxybenzoic acid > methanol extract > stigmast-4-en-6 β-ol-3-one. In addition, p-hydroxybenzoic acid is the most active against S. mutans. Radical scavenger activity of tested samples is less active than than positive control (ascorbic acid). Furthermore, the radical scavenger potency of p-hydroxybenzoic acid > methanol extract > stigmast-4-en-6 β-ol-3-one.