Studies on the Antimicrobial Principles of Fruit Methanol Extract of Sonneratia alba

This study was aimed at evaluating the antimicrobial potential of the marine medicinal mangrove plant Sonneratia alba, in a bid to identify potential natural sources for the synthesis of new drugs to address the growing antimicrobial resistance. Fruits of Sonneratia alba were extracted using Soxhlet's extraction method using Methanol and Alade and Irobi's Extraction method using methanol and their antimicrobial activity was determined by Paper disc and Agar cup methodon various standard Human and Phytopathogens. The crude methanolic extracts exhibited most promising activity. MIC was carried out by Microdilution method fond to be in range from 0.62 – 1.25 mg/ml and the non viability of the organism was ascertained by determining the MBC of the fruits was found 2.5 mg/ml. The extract was further subjected for HPTLC separation using two different solvent systems to obtain the number of phytocompounds that may be present in the sample followedby bioautography. Activity guided fractionation was further carried out using various solvents in differing polarity for purification and isolation of active compounds, and AST was performed of each fraction. Acetone and Methanolic fractions of extracts showed maximum inhibition against standard pathogenic cultures and thus were further subjected to HPTLC followed by bioautography. Phytochemical analysis was carried out by the tube and HPTLC method of both these fractions to detect the presence of phytocompounds. A well isolated band from the fruit methanolic fraction was subjected to preparative HPTLC to obtain a considerable amount of purified active component and was further identified by GCMS, LCMS, FTIR and CHNSO analysis. It can be concluded that the antimicrobial component present in the Fruit fraction F (methanol), may be 2-[3,4-Dichlorophenyl]-6-methoxy cinchoninic acid or 7,8-Epoxylanostan-11-ol, 3-acetoxy