Oleanic acid: its isolation and derivatisation to potential antimicrobial compounds

Abstract

An increasing number of natural products possessing the oleanolic acid moiety have been shown to demonstrate a wide spectrum of biological activity. This thesis deals with the extraction and isolation of oleanolic acid from Syzigium aromaticum and the examination of its stereochemistry and crystal structure by X-ray diffraction. The synthetic routes used for converting functional groups on the oleanolic acid molecule to afford derivatives are described in Chapter 5. Oleanolic acid and its derivatives were evaluated for antimicrobial activity. Three different procedures viz. Kirby-Bauer, Broth dilution and Tetrazolium salt chemosensitivity were used. Acceptable results were obtained from the last method and these were used to arrive at conclusions regarding this study.