'n Ondersoek na die antibakteriese eienskappe van Carpobrotus edulis L.

In the folk medicine of South Africa, many traditional medicinal plants are used by both the rural and a small percentage of the city population. One of these plants is Carpobrotus edulis L. An investigation of the chemical composition as well as the anti-microbial properties of this plant was the main objective of this study. Overviews on traditional medicine in South Africa and the family Mesembryanthemaceae are given. According to the available literature little is known about the chemical composition, active substances in as well as pharmacological properties of C. edulis, but most of the published information deals with the ecological importance of the plant. In this study the anti-bacterial properties of the plant were confirmed and three semipurified fractions were initially isolated by applying different chromatography techniques. During purification of active substances, with prior removal of tannins, six anti-bacterial compounds were isolated of which five were identified namely rutin, neohesperidin, hyperoside, cactecin, ferulic acid while one flavonoid remained unidentified. The conclusion from this study is that the anti-bacterial properties of the plant are related to the presence of the tlavonoids rutin, neohesperidin, hyperoside, cactecin and femlic acid as well as one unknown flavonoid. The most prormsmg observation during this study was the selective inhibition of gram negative bacteria, known to be more resistant than gram positive bacteria to antibioticums.