ISSN: 2279 - 0594 Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research Available Online at www.jbpr.in CODEN: - JBPRAU (Source: - American Chemical Society) Volume 4, Issue 5: September-October: 2015, 53-61 Research Article *Corresponding author: Dr. Bankim Chandra Nandy | E-mail: talktobankim@gmail.com 53 EXTRACTION OF BIOACTIVE CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF BIOWASTE FRUIT PEELS EXTRACT OF PUNICA GRANATUM Richa Sharma 1 , Richa Saxena 1 and Bankim Chandra Nandy* 2 1 Department of food and Biotechnology, Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur- 303122, Rajasthan, India 2 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jayoti Vidyapeeth Women’s University, Jaipur- 303122, Rajasthan, India Received 17 August 2015; Accepted 14 October 2015 ABSTRACT Recently, research has gained a renewed focus on herbal products and their biowaste that play an important role in the developing world due to limited modern health service. Various parts of Punica granatum was shown to exhibit antibacterial effects against a wide variety of bacteria. This study conferred the screening of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major bioactive constituents of biowaste peel extract of Punica granatum with their comparative antibacterial efficacy of ethanolic and methanolic extracts against pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Proteus vulgaris). The percentage value of yield extraction in ethanolic extract was 55.82 % and methanolic extract was 52.48 %. The total phenolic content was 337 ± 0.012 and 329 ± 0.02 mg/g of dry weight of ethanolic and methanolic extracts, respectively, expressed as gallic acid equivalents. The total flavonoid content was 197 ± 0.032 and 193 ± 0.061 mg/g for ethanolic and methanolic extracts, respectively, expressed as quercetin equivalents. Hence, it could be pursued further for obtaining phytomedicine. The results showed that the crude ethanolic extract has highest activity then methanolic extract. These observations could be the basis for the usefulness of ethanolic extract of the biowaste fruit peels of Punica granatum in the treatment remedies for microbial infections. Keywords: Herbal medicines, bioactive compounds, extract Punica granatum INTRODUCTION Medicinal plants are the most productive source of natural bioactive chemical compounds and drugs of natural origin, for thousands of years. The World Health Organization predicts that up to 80 percent of world population still relies mostly on traditional remedies for their preliminary health care (Shanley and Luz, 2003; Jasuja et al., 2014). The potential of medicinal plants as a source for treatment of diseases are still largely unexplored. Eventually, 250’000- 500,000 plant species, only very little percentage has been investigated phytochemically and the fraction submitted to biological or pharmacological screening. Most of the bioactive compounds isolated from plants are the secondary metabolites, which include alkaloids (Navarro and Delgado, 1999), tannins, flavonoids (Mandalari et al., 2007), steroids, terpenoids (Funatogawa et al., 2004; Harvey, 2008), saponins (Avato et al., 2006) and anthroquinone (Ayo, 2010; Prasad and Bisht, 2011; Wang et al., 2009; Mandalari et al., 2007) have great antimicrobial activity (Ateş et al., 2003; Şengül et al., 2005; Nair, 2005; Dülger et al., 2005; Kumar et al., 2006; Mathabe et al., 2006). Screening techniques of pharmacologically active beneficial compounds have been conducted on well-known species of plants used in traditional medicines. Punica granatum commonly known as pomegranate belongs to family Punicaceae. Pomegranate has been known to be a reservoir of secondary metabolites (Li et al., 2006). This is a resourceful area of research as many parts of Punica granatum are used in traditional medicine as well as exhibits various pharmacological properties while their chemistry indicates varied chemical structures (Jasuja et al., 2012). Therefore it is necessary that a systematic and significant assessment of the future directions of research in this field and its application be undertaken. The presence of antibacterial substances in the medicinal plants are well established as they have provided a source of inspiration for novel drug compounds as herbal medicine have made significant contribution towards human health (Srivastava et