Phytochemical Investigation, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Ravenala Madagascariensis (Sonn.) Family Strelitziaceae Growing in Egypt

Introduction: Ravenala madagascariensis (Sonn.) family Strelitziaceae, commonly called traveler’s tree or palm; it is used traditionally in India as tea made from young leaves for treatment of diabetes. On the other hand its seed found to have antiseptic properties. Objective: Phytochemical investigation and isolation as well as testing the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the crude total and different successive fractions. Material and Method: The leaves total ethanol extract was subjected for phytochemical screening. The n- BuOH fraction was fractionated using chromatographic isolation. Total phenolics and flavonoids and antioxidant activity of the crude total ethanol extract as well as n-hexane, CH₂Cl₂, EtOAc and n- BuOH successive fractions were determined using ABTS assays. On the other hand the antimicrobial of the crude total ethanol was carried out against 13 microorganisms using agar well diffusion method. Results: Phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, tannins and sterols. Three phenolic compounds were isolated from the n- BuOH fraction and they were identified using different spectroscopic techniques. The different fractions showed high antioxidant activities especially EtOAc fraction that showed 88.96% for ABTS inhibition. Crude total ethanol extract showed selective moderate antimicrobial activity against the tested strains of Cryptococcus neoformans, Bacillus cereus and Serratia marcenscens. Conclusion: The ethyl acetate fraction showed significant antioxidant activity probably due to presence of the flavonoids contents