Traditional medicines remain widely used as remedies for a range of ailments from stomach discomfort to impotence. The leaves of the plant Turnera diffusa (colloquially known as damiana) are purported to treat many of these such, but few studies have definitively identified active medicinal compounds. Our investigation is the first to report antibiotic potential in aqueous leaf extracts, which parallels the ways in which the plant is most often consumed, as a tea. Additionally, we have combined disc diffusion assays, optical scattering plate assays, and high resolution LC-MS to further isolate and identify the active components in these leaves. The first part of this experiment has focused on optimizing the extraction and purification of the active ingredients from its leaves. Our current efforts are focused on data analysis to investigate the effectiveness and mode of action of the currently unidentified antibiotic compounds.

Optimizing and data analysis of <i>Turnera diffusa </i>(damiana) tea leaves

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

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Optimizing and data analysis of Turnera diffusa (damiana) tea leaves