Isolation of bioactive natural products from Rumex dentatus and their antimicrobial evaluation: A comparative study against various pathogenic bacteria

Abstract Rumex dentatus is traditionally used to treat different ailments including bacterial and fungal infections. The presented study disclosed isolation of five bioactive molecules from Rumex dentatus. All the isolates were evaluated for antimicrobial activities. In this protocol the comparative study has been made on various extracts and isolated compounds in order to identify the lead molecule. Thus the activity carried, resulted, compound X2 with strong anti-microbial potential and exhibiting IC50 value between 14–32 μM. While rest of isolates showed moderate antibacterial potential. Further, the investigation of antimicrobial activity on various plant extracts against six human pathogens (five bacteria and a fungal pathogen), most of the extracts showed strong to moderate antimicrobial activity with IC50 ranging from 24–35 μM. Out of all the extracts which were evaluated for antimicrobial activities, the hexane and methanol: DCM (1:1) extracts were found to have good antibacterial potential in microtiter plate assay. The IC50 value of compound X2 was found to be favorable and presented a strong antimicrobial potential. Thus the results inferred that the plant has strong antibacterial value and hence can be used in medication for the treatment of various bacterial infections. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT