ANTI-MICROBIAL ACTIVITY AND FTIR SPECTROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF ARGEMONE MEXICANA L. LEAVES EXTRACTS

The Screening of medicinal plants for the new bioactive compounds leads to the development of new anti-microbial drugs that possess lesser cost and greater safety and efficacy. The increasing bacterial resistance exhibited by microorganisms causing skin infections has led to the research on medicinal plants. Argemone Mexicana Linn is a weed that shows multiple health benefits. All the parts of the plant are traditionally well known for the treatment of skin diseases. The aim of present study is to investigate and compare the anti-microbial activity of aqueous and ethanol extract of leaves of Argemone mexicana Linn against skin infection-causing bacteria. Also, Functional groups associated with phytochemical compounds of these plant extracts are well understood from FTIR Spectroscopy. The Argemone mexicana Linn leaves extract shows significant anti-microbial activity against all the selected microorganisms for study. The results for anti-microbial activity were recorded in zones of inhibitions. The highest zone of inhibition had shown by the ethanol extract at higher concentration, i.e., 300 mg/ml against all pathogens. The MIC values of ethanol extract were found to be 20 mg/ml and for aqueous extract 25 mg/ml. The results revealed that ethanol extract is more effective than aqueous extract. This study also revealed that the presence of the functional group in medicinally used plant extracts of Argemone mexicana Linn revealed 7 numbers of peak values from Aqueous extracts and 12 numbers of the peak for ethanol Extracts respectively.