African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (13), pp. 1521-1523, 4 July 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Short Communication

Phytochemical screening and antibacterial evaluation of stem bark of Mallotus philippinensis var. Tomentosus

K. Moorthy¹, K. Srinivasan², C. Subramanian², C. Mohanasundari³ and M. Palaniswamy²

¹Department of Microbiology, Vivekanandha College of Arts and Science for Women, Elayampalayam, Tamilnadu S. India-637 205.

²Department of Biology, Eritrea Institute of Technology, Asmara, Eritrea, North East Africa.

³Department of Microbiology Kandaswami Kandars College-velur (Namakkal), Tamilnadu, S. India-638182.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: shrieenivasan@yahoo.co.in.

Accepted 25 April, 2007

Mallotus philippinensis var. Tomentosus is a medicinal plant, which was tested against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi and Bacillus subtilis. Phytochemi-cal screening of the stem bark of M. philippinensis indicates the presence of secondary metabolites. From the results obtained, eluted fractions of chloroform and methanolic extracts showed excellent zone of inhibition comparable to the standard drug used. However, the hexane extract did not show any appreciable activity. The results of the study showed the justification of the use of the plant against the bacterial pathogens.

Key words:  Antibacterial activity, Mallotus philippinensis, stems bark extract.