Manual of clinical microbiology

Xanthium strumarium L., belonging to the family compositae, is a medicinal plant commonly found as a weed, is widely distributed in North America, Brazil, China, Malasia and hotter part of India. The herb is traditionally used mostly in treating several ailments. The present research includes isolation and characterization of chemical constituents and in vitro evaluation of antioxidant potentials by three different assay methods of isolated constituents from leaves of Xanthium strumarium as the plant is an ingredient of various traditional preparations used in the treatment of various diseases. Three constituents (hexadecanoic acid, α-amyrin, 14-methyl-12,13-dehydro-sitosterol-heptadeconate) were isolated and the structures of these compounds have been established by spectroscopic methods (UV,1H-NMR, IR, MS). All these constituents were isolated from this plant for the first time. These chemical constituents showed significant antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in dose dependent manner by different assay methods. The result obtained in the present study indicates that leaves of Xanthium strumarium could be a potential source of natural antioxidant and antimicrobial. This also justified the traditional use of herb in preventing disease induced by oxidative stress and microorganism.