Soft corals are often the research interest organism due to their structural diverse secondary metabolites with wide
spectrum of biological activities range from antibacterial to anticancer potentials. The Borneo Island is rich in diversity
of marine organisms including soft coral. Therefore, a population of Bornean soft coral belongs to genus Nephthea
was collected from Mantanani Island (Sabah, Malaysia) which led to the isolation of a novel norditerpene, chabrolene
(1) together with three known compounds (2-4). The chemical structure of 1 was determined by NMR and HREIMS data.
Compound 1 exhibited repellent activity against the maize weevil Sitophilus zeamais.
The study aimed to determine the influence of sample preparation and extraction parameters on the antibacterial activity of inflorescences from banana (Musa balbisiaba cv. Saba). Banana inflorescences were extracted using various solvent extractions and tested for antibacterial activity using agar-well diffusion assay against gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes and Brochothrix thermosphacta) and gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Enterobacter sakazakii, Yersinia enterocolitica and Vibrio parahaemolyticus) The effects of geographical origin, drying methods and extraction parameters (sample-to-solvent ratio, extraction time and temperature as well as methanol to solvent ratio) on antibacterial activity of the banana by-product were carried out. Among all the extracts evaluated, methanolic extract from the buds showed significant higher inhibitory against all gram positive bacteria ranging from 12.56-13.54 mm. Interestingly, no significant different (p>0.05) was observed on the effect of geographical origin as well as extraction methods on the antibacterial capacity. Meanwhile, the extracts produced from 50°C oven dried sample seem to have comparable antibacterial activity with the freeze dried samples. Extraction parameters (sample-to-solvent ratio, extraction time and temperature as well as methanol to solvent ratio) were found responsible in determining the efficacy of the antibacterial. In conclusion, methanolic extracts from banana inflorescence buds could be a new source of natural antibacterial and further bioassay guided fractionation should be carried out to determine the bioactive compounds and their biological activities.