Abstract

Chemical Composition And Antimicrobial Activity Of The Essential Oils From Eucalyptus Cinerea, Callistemon Viminalis And Calothamnus Quadrifidus (Myrtaceae)

Author(s): Nahla A.Ayoub, Sherweit A.El-Ahmady, Abdel Nasser B.Singab, Mohamed M.Al-Azizi, Karl-Heinz Kubeczka

The composition of the steam distilled oils of the aerial parts of the three entitled plants were separately analyzed by GC and GC/MS techniques. Fifty-one, twenty-nine and thirty-four compounds were identified in E.cinerea, C.viminalis and C.quadrifidus, respectively. The majority of these compounds were found to be primarily monoterpenes. Cineole was found to be the major compound in all three oils (82.6%, 78.3% and 80% in E.cinerea, C.viminalis and C.quadrifidus, respectively). Results of analysis indicated, however, E.cinerea contained no linalool and only traces of myrcene (0.04%); two relatively prominent compounds in both C.viminalis (5.16% and 1.68%), and C.quadrifidus (0.15% and 3.37%) respectively, β- pinene, though its totally absent in E.cinerea, it amounts to (1.30%) in C.viminalis and (3.79%) in C.quadrifidus. The antimicrobial activity of the three oils revealed similar remarkable results while antifungal activity was found to be moderate in E.cinerea and weak in the other two oils. The three oils were found also to inhibit the growth of M.tuberculosis inoculated in Lowenstein-Jensen medium.