Abstract:
Pineapple is a plant that grows in the tropics and subtropics with the scientific name
Ananas comosus. L with several active components, one of them is the bromelain
enzyme. The aim of this study was to isolate secondary metabolites of n-hexane extract
from pineapple weevil and to test the antimicrobial activity of isolated n-hexane extract
and its pure compounds. This research by maceration method with n-hexane solvent.
Extract separation was carried out by gravity column chromatography which resulted in
4 fractions. In the 2 fraction, the n-hexane extract produced a compound coded Ac-EH
in the form of white crystals having a melting point of 128-130ºC. Crystals were
characterized by UV spectrophotometer and FTIR. UV spectroscopy results for Ac-EH
showed an absorption at max 206 nm. Meanwhile, FTIR spectroscopy shows the
presence absorption at wave numbers 1047 cm-1 (C-O), 1379 cm-1 (CH3), 1465 cm-1
(CH2), 2939 cm-1 (C-H) aliphatic and 3309 cm-1 (OH). The results of the phytochemical
test showed that the secondary metabolites contained in the Ac-EH compound were
terpenoids. Antimicrobial activity tests were carried out on the pathogenic bacteria
Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis and the fungal pathogen
Candida albicans used the diffusion method. The antimicrobial activity test results
showed that the n-hexane extract and the Ac-EH compound could inhibit the growth of
pathogenic bacteria while the fungi were not active against the fungal species tested.
