Antibacterial and antioxidant potential of GC-MS analysis of crude ethyl acetate extract from the tropical mangrove plant Avicennia officinalis L.

Abstract Avicennia officinalis L. is an important mangrove plant used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases like asthma, dyspepsia, paralysis, tumor and rheumatism in aboriginal peoples in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI). The study analyzed and separated bioactive speciation of ethyl acetate leaves extract of A. officinalis from tropical mangrove plants by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and further antimicrobial and antioxidant potential assay. GC-MS results of A. officinalis identified eight different bioactive compounds namely Trans-cinnamic acid, 2,4-Di-tert-butyl phenol, Phenol, 3-(2-phenylethyl, n-hexadecanoic acid, Dibutyl phthalate, Phytol, β – Sitosterol, Androst-7-ene-6, 17-dione and 2,3,14-trihydroxy. The natural products present in A. officinalis showed strong antibacterial activity against different bacteria like gram-positive strain: Streptococcus mutans (19 mm maximum zone of inhibition), Bacillus subtilis (17 mm), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (16 mm), and gram-negative: Klebsiella pneumonia (22 mm) and Enterobacter aerohenes (14 mm). Further, this crude extract showed good antioxidant activity with IC50 values of 23.60±0.43 µg/ml measured using the DPPH method. Thus, the study put forth the promising role of ethyl acetate leaves extract of A. officinalis in the formulation of therapeutic drugs against bacterial infections, antioxidants and cancer.