AGENTS FROM THE LICHEN SUBSTANCE OF Cladonia crispata (Ach.) Flot. AND THEIR IN-SILICO APPROACHES

In the exploration of Sumatran lichen, phytochemical investigations were conducted on the lichen Cladonia crispata (Ach.) Flot. The working process started with maceration, non-polar, semi-polar, and polar solvents. For the purification process, column chromatography was used to obtain squamatic acid (1) and barbatic acid (2). These compounds were identified spectroscopically (UV-vis-IR-MS-NMR). Furthermore, antibacterial activity from the extract and isolated compounds against seven pathogenic bacteria were evaluated. The ethyl acetate extract significantly inhibited all tested bacteria in the concentration range of 250–2000 µg/disc. Regarding the isolated compound, barbatic acid had the potential as an antibacterial agent at a concentration of 12.5–50 µg/disc, followed by squamatic acid. In the in silico study, the absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) prediction and molecular docking simulation were conducted for both compounds to understand the action mechanism of the two compounds as antibacterial agents