IDENTIFICATION OF QUERCETIN IN Echinops tenuisectus Family Compositae

This study is emphasized on the detection and identification of Quercetin Flavonoid in a newly studied, wild Iraqi plant, named Echinops tenuisectus of Compositae family. The medicinal importance of Quercetin on one hand, and the absence of any phytochemical investigation on tenuisectus specie of Echinops genus on the other hand, acquired this s importance. יstudy it Quercetin was identified in the plant extract of both, the aerial part’s and the seed’s extracts, by two chromatographic methods, first Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) using TLC ready made Gf254 plates, UV detector at 254 nm, and tow different solvent systems in which the Rf value of the standard quercetin matched with the Rf value of the plant extract quercetin. HPLC was the other chromatographic method that proved the presence of quercetin in the plant extract by identical retention times. The result indicated that the quercetin content in the seed extract was higher than that in the plant extract of the aerial parts

The Antibacterial Effect of Phytosterols Isolated from Echinops heterophyllus in Comparison with MEBO® and Standard Antimicrobial Agents.

This study investigated the types of phytosterols that exists in the aerial and root parts of Echinops heterophyllus and explored the antibacterial effect of these phytosterols against some pathogenic bacteria in comparison with Moist Exposed Wound Ointment (MEBO®) and gentamicin.Plant was extracted and phytosterols were isolated and purified from the crude extract of Echinops heterophyllus by using chemical method. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) detected the presence of steroids in the aerial and roots part and gas chromatographymass spectrophotometer GC/MS analysis was used to identify some of these compounds and among them were beta-sitosterol and stigmasterol. Standard dilutions of the phytosterols isolated from Echinops heterophyllus were made from 10-100%; its antibacterial effect had been examined by seeded agar method against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The effect of these phytosetrols against Staphylococcus aureus was more potent than against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was seventy mg/ml and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was eighty five mg/ml. This study illustrates that sitosterol isolated from Echinops heterophyllus has a greater inhibitory effect on the test bacteria than gentamicine and closer results to MEBO®. It can be concluded in this study is a good step to show the types of phytosterols isolated from Echinops heterophyllus and the antibacterial effect of these phytosterols in vitro against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa