The bioactivity and phycochemistry of two stonewort algae (Charophycota) from Sindh

The filaments of chara zeylanica klein ex willdenow and nitella hyalina (de candolle) c. a. agardh were collected from freshwater habitats of sindh province of pakistan and extracted in methanol. their crude extracts showed strong antimicrobial activity against 14 bacterial and 20 fungal species including 7 human-,5 plant- pathogens and 8 saprophytes,but their cytotoxic activity against brine shrimp larvae was non-significant. methanol extracts of the two species revealed the presence of 36 different fatty acids (fas) including 13 saturated and 23 unsaturated acids,the latter were in larger proportion (53.22-62.52%) than the former (37.45-46.73%). chara zeylanica yielded two sterols,three terpenes and one carbohydrate,while four sterols,one terpene and two carbohydrates were obtained from the extract of n. hyalina.