Separation and identification of some fatty acids and phenolic compounds from Portulaca oleracea L. and study their biological effect on two types of pathogenic bacteria

This study aims to identify the chemical composition of purslane and examine its antimicrobial activities against two types of pathogenic bacteria: Pseudomonas savastanoi, and Staphylococcus aureus. Ether petroleum extract and ethanol extract were extracted using a Soxhlet extractor. Saponification was undertaken to separate the fatty acids from the crude ether petroleum extract. Then, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to detect these fatty acids. Acid analysis was carried out to extract the free phenols from the ethanol using gas liquid chromatography (GLC). The results showed that purslane leaves are rich in fatty acids including palmitic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and stearic acids. Additionally, using HPLC, five phenols were detected in the ethanol extract of the purslane leaves including quercetin, kaempferol, gallic acid, catechin and apigenin. Using the disc diffusion technique, both active extracted compounds were found to exhibit various inhibitory effects against the studied bacteria. However, the fatty acids showed a greater inhibitory effect than the phenols on both pathogens.