Mineral Components, Bioactive Constituents and Antifungal Activity of Whole parts of Tailor Ant (Oecophylla Longinoda)

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the mineral components, bioactive chemical constituents and antifungal activity of whole parts of Oecophylla longinoda (Tailor ant). The Tailor ants were collected from their natural habitat in a nest and extracted with methanol using maceration method for forty-eight hours. The ant crude extract was concentrated using a rotary evaporator (Model RE, 200, USA) and mineral elements and bioactive chemical constituents were performed using standard methods. Candida albican, Penicillium notatum and Epidermophyton floccosum were selected for  antifungal activity using agar well diffusion method while column chromatography was adopted for isolation and characterization done by infra-red (I.R) and ultra violet (UV) analysis. Potassium was detected as the highest mineral element (67.80 mg/mL) while crude protein from the whole ant was 65.03%. The result indicated that saponins, terpenes, flavonoids, sterol and alkaloid were present among others in the ant extract.  The antifungal analysis revealed significant activities with zones of inhibition at a concentration of 80 mg/mL: 15 mm (E. floccosum), 10 mm (P. notatum) and 17 mm (C. albican). All the extract concentration showed a dose dependent activity when compared with the standard control antibiotics (Ketoconazole). The functional groups observed at 1461.10cm^-1 indicated (C-H) bend of alkyl groups, 1707.10cm^-1 (C=O) stretch of ketone or amide and 2120.90cm^-1 () stretch of nitrile. The band at 1707.10 cm^-1 of C=O stretch suggests that the methanol ant isolate is rich in ketone groupswhile the UV maximum wavelength at 269 nm indicated unsaturated group chromophore. The study revealed that Oecophylla longinoda (Tailor ant) extract contains essential macro elements and bioactive constituents with high antifungal activity.