Abstract:
Infectious diseases remain a major threat to public health. Despite tremendous progress in
human medicine, their impact is particularly great in developing countries because of the
relative unavailability of medicines and the emergence of widespread drug resistance.
Traditional medicinal plants are an important component in the provision of primary
health care due to their worldwide availability and fewer side effects. They serve as an
alternative to conventional medicines. Thus, the present study was focused on isolation
and characterization of compounds from two plants namely; Melia azedarach and Albizia
schimperiana. Accordingly, the leaves of Melia azedarachand stem bark of Albizia
schimperianawere extracted using chloroform/methanol (1:1, v/v) to afford crude
extracts. The crude extracts were also subjected to phytochemical analysis for the
presence and absence of the common secondary metabolites. In line with, the leaves of
Melia azedarachwas positive for alkaloids, phenols, tannins, saponins, terpenoids and
steroidwhereas, the stem bark of Albizia schimperiana extract was observed to possess
alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, tannins, saponins, steroid and terpenoids.The chemical
study of the leaves extract of Melia azedarach andstem bark of Albizia schimpiriana
afforded two pure compounds whosestructure were established as β-sitosterol and α-
spinasterol respectively, using standard spectroscopic data (1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR) and
literature reports. The crude extracts and isolated compounds were subjected to biological
evaluation against four bacterial strains (Bacillussubtilis, Staphylococcus aureus,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) and two fungus(Aspergillus flavus and
Fusariun spp.).The two characterized compounds were showed promising antimicrobial
activity than the crude extract of both plant species.The observed activity was carried out
at concentration of50mg/mL for the crude extracts, 20mg/mL for the isolated compounds,
it would be recommended fordetermination of MICvalues provides a quantitative
measure for the level of resistance expressed by the test organism.
