Chemical studies and biological activities of extractives from piper betle leaves

Isolation of compounds and the biological activities of the extracts from the Piper betle leaves were carried out. The sample was extracted by using solvent extraction method using four different solvents with increasing polarity which are hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate and methanol. Further fractionation and isolation by using chromatographic methods afforded a pure compound with molecular mass of 204.2 when subjected to GC-MS analysis, which is the compound amorphene. A semi pure compound was also obtained, giving one sharp peak when subjected to GC-FID analysis. Toxicity test revealed that the extractives of Piper betle leaves are not toxic against brine shrimp, Artemia salina, with LC50 greater than 100ppm. In antitermite toxicity test, DCM crude extract was found to be the most toxic, with 100.0% mortality after three days for three different concentrations. The antibacterial test showed that the DCM extract gave growth inhibition to the bacteria at 10.0% concentration. It was also found that the DCM crude extract is more toxic towards Escherichia coli as compared to Staphylococcus aureus