Original Articles
Normah Awang, Nur Hanisah Zakr
Abstract
Organometallic compounds have been proved to be capable of acting as biocidal and antimicrobial agents. Organotin(IV) methyl- and ethylisopropyldithiocarbamate compounds are the two series of new compounds that are expected to have biological activities. In this study, evaluation of antimicrobial activity of the compounds was carried out using qualitative disc diffusion method and quantitative broth microdilution method. The compounds were tested on eight bacterial species namely Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, and Shigella flexneri and three species of fungi namely Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Triphenyltin(IV) ethylisopropyldithiocarbamate compound (compound 6) showed a very active antimicrobial activity with an inhibition zone diameter of greater than 15.0 mm on most of the bacteria and all the fungi tested. MIC values obtained for this compound were better than streptomycin against B. cereus at 0.39 μg/mL, S. aureus at 0.12 μg/mL, and S. mutans at 0.12 μg/mL. Higher MIC values were needed for the Gram-negative bacteria as compared to Gram-positive bacteria, and higher value than nystatin was required to inhibit the growth of fungi. MBC and MFC values obtained showed that compound 6 can act as a bactericidal and fungicidal agent. It could be concluded that compound 6 has a strong inhibition and active antimicrobial activities against the bacteria and fungi tested. This compound also has better antibacterial activities compared to antifungal activities