A potential antibacterial agent Embelin, a natural benzoquinone extracted from Embelia ribes

Herbal medicine has been used for the prevention and treatment of various health aliments from time immemorial. In the present work, embelin from Embelia ribes berries of Indian origin was extracted and characterized by UV, NMR, thermal and X-ray diffraction analyses. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of embelin against both Gram +ve and Gram -ve bacteria were studied using micro dilution method and agar plate method by sub-culturing 10 μl of the test dilutions from MIC tubes on to fresh Mueller-Hinton agar plates. About 1.9± 0.1 gram of pure embelin was obtained from 100 gram of powdered berries (E.ribes). The characteristics studied reveal the properties are on par with the standard embelin received from Sigma (USA). With regard to antibacterial activity, embelin showed bactericidal activity against Gram +ve organisms, and bacteriostatic against Gram –ve organisms. Thus, embelin finds application as potent antibacterial agent.