Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Cymbopogon Nardus L (citronella grass) oil from Kefamenamu, Timor Tengah Utara Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

The citronella grass plants (Cymbopogon nardus L) grow flourish in Kefamenanu, Timor Tengah Utara Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Citronella grass essential oils can be obtained from the simple steam distillation of leaves as many as 0.48% (wt/vol). The chemicals contained in citronella grass essential oil will be greatly influenced by the environmental conditions such as weather, humidity, soil nutrition, water content and pests, so that the number of secondary metabolites produced by plants can also be vary in different regions. Therefore this study aims to look at the secondary metabolites content of citronella grass (C. nardus) essential oil from Kefamenanu by using instruments such as GC-MS, FTIR, and 1H-NMR, and to evaluate the antibacterial and antioxidant activities. The citronella grass (C. nardus) essential oil from Kefamenanu shows 7 detected components i.e., Citronellol (1.771%), Geraniol (82.053%), Geranyl acetate (3.630%), (E)-3,7-Dimethylocta-2,6-dienylethylcarbonate (3.567%), Cariophyllene (3.360%), Germacrene D (1.966%) and Naphthalene (3.653%). It has one major component which is geraniol that reach 82.053%. Among other reported sources so far, this is the higher geraniol concentration in a citronella essential oil. The citronella grass (C. nardus L) essential oil from Kefamenanu shows weak antibacterial activity against E. Coli, but moderate antibacterial activity against B. subtilis and S. aureus, and it has IC50 = 1.38 ± 0.04 µ g/mL which is stronger radical-scavenging capacity compared to quercetin (IC50 = 6.56 ± 0.06 µ g/mL).