Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activity of Essential Oils of Various Plant Organs of Wild Growing Nepeta cataria from Serbia

Abstract

This paper describes the seasonal variations of volatile compounds from stems, leaves and flowers of Nepeta cataria. The essential oils obtained by hydrodistilation were analyzed by GC and GS-MS. Sixty-five constituents were identified in the flower oil, with sesquiterpenes as dominant components (54.8%). The leaf oils before and during flowering were dominated by monoterpenes (54.6% and 94%, respectively), with cis,trans-nepetalactone as the most abundant constituent. As for the stem oils obtained before and during flowering, the dominant class were acids (60.4% and 72.1%, respectively). Antibacterial activity, evaluated by using microbroth dilution method, revealed that all five essential oils were active against tested bacteria. Oil obtained from stems before flowering showed the strongest activity against Y. eneterococlitica (MIC50 and MIC90 values; 7.5 mL/mL and 8.0 mL/mL, respectively).