Antimicrobial and GC/MS Studies for Saponifiable Matter and Volatile Oil of Markhamia platycalyx Leaves

Bignoniaceae Juss. (Bignonia family) includes many genera of high economic and medicinal values. It comprises 104 genera and 860 species. Markhamia genus is traditionally used in the treatment of several diseases. Literature survey showed few chemical works on the Markhamia platycalyx and nothing could be found about the antimicrobial study. This provoked us to carry out an extensive study of this plant including GC/MS for saponifiable matter and volatile oil. The main recognized fatty acids were linolenic (44.66%), followed by palmitic (30.63%) of the saponifiable matter composition. While, E-phytol was the major identified compound of the volatile oil composition (12.95%). Moreover, this study included the antimicrobial activity of the volatile oil. It exhibited a potent antibacterial effect against E. coli with MIC 7.48 μg/ml compared to the standard antibiotics MICs, amikacin (28.96 μg/ml) and gentamycin (26.44 μg/ml).