Synthesis of metallic surfactants from Jatropha oil and study of it's molecular structure and antimicrobial activity on plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris

Jatropha Oil is non edible and it has several medicinal properties,on saponification with concentrated alkali like NaOH and KOH, valuable water soluble surfactants can be derived which serves for cleansing purpose. In present study chemical constituents present in Jatropha oil taken as raw material has been characterized by GC-MS (FAME) method. Physico-chemical properties such as Saponification value, Iodine value, Free Fatty acid value etc. were determined as per standard titrimetric methods which ascertains the purity of oil. Sodium, Potassium surfactant of Jatropha oil has been synthesized by reacting Jatropha oil with alkaline lye in aqueous medium. Transition metal (Copper and Nickel) based surfactants were derived by metathesis with sodium soap and molecular structure of the synthesized surfactant was determined by FTIR method. The antimicrobial activity of all surfactants was studied on plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris. These surfactants exhibit prominent antimicrobial activity in the range of 5000 ppm–10000 ppm. Water soluble Jatropha surfactants are biodegradable in nature and hence they could prove to be an effective alternate to other conventional antibacterial agents that persist in the environment and cause the problem of bio-accumulation.