South East Asian countries are very rich in biodiversity with thousands of
the plants species of which only a small proportion of the species have been
investigated in detail. This research was carried out to investigate the chemical
constituents and bioactivities of three well known medicinal plants Murraya
paniculata Jack, Aegle marmelos Correa (Rutaceae) and Zingiber amaricans
Blume (Zingiberaceae).
Leaves and stem bark of M paniculata; leaves, bark and root of A.
marmelos and rhizomes of Z. amaricans were separately extracted with various
solvents. The extracts and isolated pure compounds were examined for their
bioactivity against microbes and cancer cell line. Cytotoxic assay was performed against CEM-SS (human T-Iymphoblastic leukaemia) cell line with MIT reagent,
while antimicrobial tests were conducted by diffusion method against a list of the
pathogenic bacteria and fungi. The structures of the isolated compounds were
elucidated by using spectroscopic methods
