as a Potential Natural Food Preservative.

Unlabelled: (family ) is often cultivated for ornamental purposes but also serves as a rich source of bioactive essential oils. While several studies focused on the activities of the essential oils, this study analysed the potential of spent leaves as a natural food preservative.

Method: We investigated the in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of crude extracts against activities of the purified isolated flavonoid, 6-methyltectochrysin, which was characterized using spectroscopic methods. The antioxidant assays followed ORAC, FRAP and TEAC tests. The antimicrobial activities of the extract and purified flavonoid were analysed against six multi-drug resistant microbial strains in broth dilution assays.

Result: The results revealed that both the crude extracts and isolated 6-methyltectochrysin exhibited positive radical ion scavenging antioxidant potential, however the crude extract was about 6-fold more potent antioxidant than the purified 6-methyltectochrysin. The crude extract also showed strong antimicrobial activities against , and even more potent antimicrobial agent than the reference ampicillin antibiotic against subsp. A higher resistance was observed for the tested Gram-negative strains than for the Gram-positive ones. 6-methyltectochrysin was generally inactive in the antimicrobial assays.

Conclusion: The crude methanolic extract showed significant bioactivity which validates the medicinal relevance of the plant. The observed biological activities, especially against a notorious strain of suggest that could be a promising natural source of food preservatives.