Potential antibacterial compounds from Malaysian Sponges Neopetrosiaexigua

This study was carried out to isolate the active antibacterial compounds from marine sponge Neopetrosiaexigua. Using disc diffusion method, methanol extract of N. exigua showed a significantantibacterial activity. Sequentially, liquid-liquid extraction was performed using different polarity solvents ( n-hexane, carbon tetrachloride, dichloromethane, n-butanol and water) in order to isolate the active antibacterial compounds. Based on the biological guided fractionation results, diccholoromethane and n-butanol fractions showed the higher antimicrobial activity than other solvents. Purification of n-butanol fraction was done by using Sephadex LH-20, normal phase column chromatography (eluted with water/acetonitrile and acetonitrile/methanol) to yeild four compounds (1-4). All compounds weretested for their antibacterial activity against Bacillus anthracis. The results showed that oth compond 3 and 4 exhibited a significant antibacterial activity. Although the spectroscopy (NMR and FTIR) analysiswas performed, research is still in progress to elucidate the structures of the isolated compounds