CHEMICAL STUDY AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF VOLATILE EXTRACTS FROM FRESH LEAVES OF [i]CRASSOCEPHALUM RUBENS[/i] (JUSS

Abstract

The present work has studied the chemical composition of the essential oil (EO) extracted from the fresh leaves of [i]C[/i][i]rassocephalum rubens[/i] and tested its efficacy against some pathogenic microorganisms isolated from common foods largely consumed, which had been incriminated as responsible of food infections and toxi-infections. The chemical composition of the essential oil extracted from the fresh leaves of [i]Crassocephalum rubens[/i], has revealed the presence of limonene (48.8� myrcene (30.7� E-(β)-ocimene (7.4�20and α-thujene (4.6�20as the main components. In addition some oxygenated components had been identified. They are linalool, terpinen-4-ol, p-cymen-8-ol, E-nerolidiol and E-bisabol-11-ol. The Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) determined on some bacteria Gram ([i]Staphylococcus aureus[/i], [i]Streptococcus faecalis[/i]), bacteria Gram- ([i]Escherichia coli[/i], [i]Salmonella typhi[/i]) and against a pathogenic yeast ([i]Candida albicans[/i]) vary from 0.54 mg/mL to 4.38 mg/mL. The two Gram are more sensitive to the EO activity while the two Gram- less sensitive and Candida albicans relatively resistant to the EO activity.

Keywords

• essential oil
• food infections and toxi-infections
• pathogenic microorganisms
• minimal inhibitory concentration
• EO
• MIC