Research Article Antimicrobial Bioactivity and GC-MS Analysis of Different Extracts of Corchorus olitorius L Leaves Rebecca Nakaziba , 1,2 Sharon Bright Amanya , 3 Crispin Duncan Sesaazi , 4 Frederick Byarugaba , 5 Jasper Ogwal-Okeng , 2 and Paul E. Alele 1 1 Department of Pharmacology and erapeutics, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 1410, \hskip8pt Mbarara, Uganda 2 Department of Pharmacology and erapeutics, Lira University, P.O. Box 1035, Lira, Uganda 3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Lira University, P.O. Box 1035, Lira, Uganda 4 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda 5 Department of Microbiology, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda Correspondence should be addressed to Rebecca Nakaziba; d2rebecca1@gmail.com Received 8 March 2022; Accepted 27 August 2022; Published 20 September 2022 Academic Editor: Ghadir A. El-Chaghaby Copyright © 2022 Rebecca Nakaziba et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background and Aim. Plants have been used for the treatment of infectious diseases among various communities worldwide with undeniable success. Corchorus olitorius L is used to treat various ailments including infections. However, there are limited data regarding its antimicrobial spectrum in Uganda. In the bid to bridge this gap, we investigated the antimicrobial bioactivity of Corchorus olitorius L against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Myco- bacteria tuberculosis. Methods. Corchorus olitorius L leaves were harvested, air-dried, and serially extracted using diethyl ether, methanol, and distilled water (aqueous). e crude extracts and their components separated by TLC were assayed for bioactivity against the organisms mentioned above using the agar well diffusion technique. Chloramphenicol was used as a positive control. Observation of a zone of inhibition indicated bioactivity. Finally, the components that displayed bioactivity were subjected to GC- MS analysis to establish their chemical composition using the MS library database. Results. Crude extracts of Corchorus olitorius L leaves and their TLC-separated components demonstrated bioactivity against Staphylococcus aureus (14 mm), Streptococcus pneumoniae (16 mm), and Escherichia coli (11 mm) but neither against Candida albicans nor Mycobacteria tuberculosis. However, the overall zones of inhibition were smaller compared to the positive control (≥ 18 mm). GC-MS analysis of the active components revealed the presence of methyl esters. Conclusion. Corchorus olitorius L is bioactive against both Gram-negative and Gram- positive bacteria but neither against fungi nor mycobacteria. e bioactivity is attributable to the presence of methyl esters. Since methyl esters already have proven bioactivity in some studies, they could be further studied and optimized for possible pharmaceutical use. Further, to provide a more comprehensive antimicrobial spectrum of Corchorus olitorius L in Uganda, purified active components could be investigated using a wider range of organisms. 1. Introduction Plants offer an inexhaustible source of bioactive compounds and clinically useful drugs for infectious diseases, cancer as well as cardiovascular disorders [1, 2]. Bioactive compounds play an immense role in drug discovery [3, 4] beginning with bioactivity screening of crude extracts followed by frac- tionation to isolate the active compounds [5, 6]. Regrettably, there has been limited pharmaceutical development of the plants with known bioactivity with a few pharmaceutical products for infectious diseases [7]. However, the increasing antimicrobial resistance to the currently available antimi- crobial agents demands intense investigations into the an- timicrobial properties of medicinal plants [8, 9]. Corchorus olitorius L (C. olitorius), commonly known as jute mallow, belongs to the genus Corchorus and the family Hindawi e Scientific World Journal Volume 2022, Article ID 3382302, 9 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/3382302