Antibacterial activity of di-butyl phthalate isolated from Begonia malabarica

Abstract

Natural products from medicinal plants either as pure compounds or as standardized extracts provide unlimited opportunities for new drug leads because of the unmatched availability of chemical diversity. Begonia malabarica Lam. is one of the medicinally important herbs belonging to the family of Begoniaceae. It is reported that the leaves are used to treat respiratory infections, diarrhea, blood cancer and skin diseases. The whole plant possesses a variety of secondary metabolites. Isolation of such compounds will add more novel bioactive structures that are of interest to screen and select potential lead compounds to discover and develop drugs in the modern pharmaceutical sector. Against this backdrop, Begonia malabarica was extracted with various solvents and bioactive compounds were isolated using chromatographic techniques. One of the bioactive compounds isolated from it was colorless or pale yellow oily compound that is soluble in chloroform. The structure of the compound was elucidated as di-butyl phthalate with the help of spectral data such as FT-IR, MS, 1H-NMR and 13C-NMR. This is the first report to the family of Begoniaceae. The compound is reported to have antibacterial and anticancer properties.