Antimicrobial and spectroscopic analyses of the whole plant of Cassytha filiformis (Love vine) from Southeastern Nigeria

This research investigated the efficacy of the solvent extracts of the whole plant of Cassytha filiformis in inhibiting microbial growth and employed spectroscopic techniques to analyze the chemical composition of the plant. Antimicrobial activity of the solvent plant extracts was evaluated in vitro by modified disc diffusion method against seven bacteria and seven fungi. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was determined by broth dilution method. Buck Scientific M530 USA FTIR was used for the FTIR analysis. UV-Vis spectrophotometer (Apel 3000UV) was used to conduct the UV-Vis spectrophotometric analysis. The quantification of phytochemicals by GC-MS was conducted using BUCK M910 with HP-5MS column. The UV-Visible results showed absorption in both the ultraviolet and visible regions indicating high conjugation. The antibacterial and antifungal activity screening showed strong inhibitory effect against some selected test bacteria and fungi organisms. Compounds having high concentrations were identified with the GC-MS analysis of the solvent extracts. The MIC results varied from turbidity to no turbidity at the different concentrations of the solvent extracts. The FTIR analysis revealed the presence of the predominant functional groups such as O-H, N-H, C=C and =C-H. The antimicrobial results revealed that the solvent extracts of the plant can be employed in the treatment of fungi and bacteria diseases. ¹ H-NMR and ¹³ C-NMR studies of the plant solvent extracts should be conducted in order to elucidate the structures of the secondary metabolites responsible for the antimicrobial properties. Also, the antimicrobial activity of more plant solvent extracts against more bacteria and fungi should be further investigated and incorporated into orthodox drugs.