Abstract
Cedrela serrata plant had a folkloric use in Pakistan for treatments of some ailments. A bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation procedures were used to identify phytochemicals present in C. serrata Royle bark extracts and oil. The phytochemical screening showed the presence of different classes of bioactive secondary metabolites. The in vitro antimicrobial antifungal and antioxidant activities of n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol fractions of C. serrata were evaluated against selected pathogens showing moderate activities, while antiradical activity against DPPH center dot (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) indicated moderate scavenging activity among fractions. Fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) of C. serrata Royle bark oil were analyzed by GC-MS. Twenty fatty acids were identified and quantified. Linoleic acid was the main fatty acid (33.9%) among the identified FAME. Octadecadienoic acid (24.1%), linolenic acid (13.3%), palmitic acid (9.86%), steric acid (2.04%), palmitolic acid (1.30 %), myristic acid (1.12%), and eicosadienoic acid (1.01%) were also measured. Fixed oil was tested for its phytotoxicity against lemna minor under laboratory conditions. The results showed that the oil from C. serrata bark had good activity at low concentration.