Abstract

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, ANTIMICROBIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL OF PULICARIA JAUBERTII FROM SOUTH YEMEN

Mohamed Al-Fatimi, Nasser A. Awadh Ali*, Martina Wurster, Saeed S. Al-Sokari Ulrike Lindequist, William N. Setzer

Abstract

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from the flowers of Pulicaria jaubertii Gamal-Eldin (syn. Pulicaria orientalis Jaub.) was analyzed by GC-MS. The oil of P. jaubertii oil was strongly dominated by p-Menth-6-en-2-one (carvotanacetone) (93.5%) followed by chrysanthenone (0.9 %) and borneol (0.7 %). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was evaluated against five microorganisms, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Candida albicans, using disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The oil showed the strongest bactericidal activity against Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus and was active against C. albicans as well. The free radical scavenging ability of the oil was assessed by the DPPH assay to show antiradical activity with an IC50 of 280 μg/mL.

Keywords: Essential oil, Pulicaria jaubertii, carvotanacetone, GC-MS, Antimicrobial, Antioxidant.