Antibacterial Triterpenoids Isolated from Lantana camara

Abstract

The known triterpenoids lantic acid, camaric acid, camarinic acid and lantanilic acid were isolated from Lantana camara (L.) cultivated in Egypt. The antibacterial activity of lantic acid was carried out using bioautography assays for Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Lantic acid was found to possess strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Bacillus cereus, in which 0.08 and 0.1 µg were the minimum inhibition doses, respectively, compared to 0.05 and 0.005 µg for chloramphenicol, respectively. The results indicate that lantic acid has broad spectrum antibacterial activity and may hold potential as a non-selective antimicrobial agent.