The identification and quantification of bioactive compounds from the aqueous extract of comfrey root by UHPLC-DAD-HESI-MS method and its microbial activity

Abstract

In this study the qualitative, quantitative and microbial determination of the aqueous extract of comfrey root was done. The qualitative and quantitative analyses were done by the UHPLC-DAD-HESI-MS method. As major bioactive compounds, allantoin, rosmarinic acid and ellagic acid were identified and their quantification was also done. The obtained results showed a high content of allantoin, ellagic acid and rosmarinic acid (8.91, 7.4 and 12.8%, respectively) which indicated that the comfrey root can be used as a source for the isolation of these three compounds. The results obtained by the determination of the antimicrobial activity showed that Escherichia coli ATCC8739 and Salmonela typhimirium ATCC6538 were most sensitive to the aqueous extract of comfrey root. The results showed that allantoin did not express the antimicrobial activity on all the investigated bacteria species, and based on this it can be concluded that allantoin is not responsible for the antimicrobial activity of the aqueous extract of comfrey root. [Projekat Ministrstva nauke Republike Srbije, br TR-34012]

Keywords

• comfrey root
• Symphytum officinale L.
• UHPLC-DAD-HESI-MS
• microbial activity