Determination of Volatile Constituents and Antimicrobial Activity of Camel Thorn (Alhagi camelorum) Flowers

Abstract

A direct analysis headspace method coupled to gas chromatography– mass spectrometry (GC–MS) is reported for the determination of volatile compounds and antimicrobial activity in the flowers of Alhagi camelorum. The method was used for the determination of volatile compounds in dry as well as methanol extracts of the flowers. The highest efficiency of the headspace method was achieved at 140°C and 10 min of incubation time. Forty compounds were identified by this technique. In comparison with generally used hydro-distillation method, the headspace GC–MS method was very simple, required low amount of sample, was convenient to handle without using any solvent, and required shorter analysis time. It also offered high trapping ability for volatile and thermally sensitive compounds. The major components identified by this method were furfuraldehyde derivatives, which indicate the presence of higher carbohydrate content. In addition, methanol extracts of Alhagi camelorum flowers were investigated for their antimicrobial activity with two species Escherichia coli (Gram-negative bacterium) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive coccal bacterium). The extracts had remarkable antibacterial activity against these species with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 50 and 70 µg · mL−1 for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively.