Phytochemical and Biological Investigations of Carica papaya

Abstract

β-sitosterol is isolated from petroleum ether extract of the leaves of Carica papaya (Family: Caricaceae). The crude extract of methanol,
petroleum ether, carbon-tetrachloride, dichloromethane extract and six column fractions (F-6, F-8, F-13, F-17, F-21& F-24) of petroleum
ether extract were screened for their antimicrobial activity against a wide range of gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria and fungi
by disc diffusion method and brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The four crude extracts and six column fraction of petroleum ether showed
significant activity against four of the test organisms such as B. subtilis, S. aureus, E. coli and S. typhi while the petroleum ether extract
showed strongest cytotoxicity having LC50 1.41μg/mL.