Fitoterapia 75 (2004) 510–513 0367-326X/04/$ - see front matter  2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fitote.2004.03.008 Short report Antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity of extractives from Ravenia spectabilis M.H. Sohrab, R. Chowdhury, K.M. Rahman, C.M. Hasan, M.A. Rashid* Phytochemical Research Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh Received 8 August 2003; accepted 30 March 2004 Abstract A methanolic extract of Ravenia spectabilis, an isolated alkaloid, arborinine plus a fraction comprising arborinine and g-fagarine (VLC), showed mild to significant in vitro antibacterial activity. In a brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the extract and the fraction were found to exhibit moderate cytotoxicity having LC of 76.26 mgyml and 14.98 mgyml, respectively. 50  2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Ravenia spectabilis; Antibacterial; Cytotoxicity Plant. Ravenia spectabilis Engl. (Rutaceae), stems collected from the Balda Garden of Dhaka district, Bangladesh in October 1999 and identified at the Bangladesh National Herbarium (voucher specimen number: DACB-28090). Uses in traditional medicine. No ethnomedical use has been reported for this species. Previously isolated classes of constituents. Alkaloids w1–5x. *Corresponding author. Tel.: q880-2-9661900-59x6062; fax: q880-2-8615583. E-mail address: rashidma@aitlbd.net (M.A. Rashid).