Question:
I want to test the extract of garlic in some bactery to
know an antibacterial effect.
Until now I could not find what kind of method I had to do. If I tried to
find through Internet I found the abstract only without the full
text.
Replies:
possibly helpful?
http://www.mistral.co.uk/garlic/
Anthony R. Brach, Ph.D.
The primary anti-bacterial component of garlic is a compound with the
common name "Allicin". You might use that term to do a web search if you
have not already used that term.
It is stable in mild acid but decomposes in base so you might try to extract
garlic cloves with acetone with a couple of drops of acid, evaporate some of
the acetone at room temperature to concentrate the extract. Then add to this
extract dropwise a hydrocarbon, say hexane, or heptane, or a commercial
petroleum cut like "Skelly-solv" or some other petroleum hydrocarbon
fraction. The allicin is not soluble in these weak solvents and should form
an oily layer. You may have to repeat the procedure, or devise some way to
purify the extract further, I do not know.
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