CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF SOME ESSENTIAL OILS AFTER THEIR INDUSTRIAL LARGE-SCALE DISTILLATION

Abstract

Essential oils (EOs) are complex mixtures of several components that show a wide range of biological activities. The objective of the present work was to investigate the composition of the essential oils from industrial large-scale distillation, and evaluate their antimicrobial activity on typical and clinic isolates strains. The qualitative compositions of essential oils of several aromatic plants were determined by GC-FID after their industrial large-scale distillation (Calendula Co., Nova Lubovna, Slovakia). GC-FID analysis revealed that essential oils from large-scale show different qualitative and quantitative content in comparison with literature data. Eleven essential oils, namely, Rosmarinus officinalis L., Thymus vulgaris L., Menta ×piperita L., Matricaria recutita L., Hyssopus officinalis L., Salvia officinalis L., Pimpinella anisum L., Juniperus communis L., Abies alba L., Pinus silvestris L., and Coriandrum sativum L. were tested for their antimicrobial activities using disk diffusion method. Thymus vulgaris L. essential oil shows the most potent antimicrobial activity. On other hand, the essential oil of Hyssopus officinalis L., Mentha × piperita L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., and Coriandrum sativum L.. The essential oil show medium antimicrobial activity. There was no antimicrobial activity observed for Matricaria recutita L.