Isolation and Identification of Essential Phytochemical Constituents of Amorphophallus campanulatus and Screening its Antimicrobial Properties

The main objective of this research work is to qualitatively analyze and separate the secondary metabolites of Amorphophallus campanulatus through optimized procedures and to examine the microbicidal properties of the isolated phytochemicals against a range of pathogenic microbes. The plant tuber was powdered and subjected to phytochemical screening for the identification of two essential metabolites namely flavonoids and alkaloids. Ammonia and dragendroff's tests were performed and as a result of which both the compounds of interest shown presence in the plant tuber sample. Flavonoids and alkaloids were extracted using specialized solvent extraction procedures such as methanolic extraction and acetic acid extraction respectively. The compounds were then characterized by Thin Layer chromatography in which flavonoids were detected by Ninhydrin reagent as brown spots giving Rf values 0.21 and 0.27. Whereas, alkaloids by Dragendroff's reagent as orange spots with Rf value 0.22 and 0.25. The isolated compounds were then subjected to antimicrobial screening against bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus andEscherichia coli) and fungi (Aspergillus flavusandAspergillusniger). Both flavonoid and alkaloid has shown anti-microbial activity against all the test strains. Among the two phytochemical compounds of interest, alkaloid was found to be more effective than the flavonoid in exhibiting antimicrobial properties. The present study thus identified two essential antibacterial and antifungal compounds from the tuber of Amorphophallus campanulatus.