Abstract
The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of leaves and stems of Chloroxylon swietenia DC. were analysed by GC and GC-MS. The main components in the leaf oil were limonene, pregeijerene, geijerene and germacrene D, while stem oil was rich in limonene, methyl eugenol, pregeijerene and geijerene. The essential oils were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against two gram-positive and two gram-negative bacteria and four pathogenic fungi using agar disc diffusion technique. Subsequently, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) from oils was determined by broth microdilution. Both the oils exhibited moderate to strong activities against all the organisms tested. Bacillus subtilis was most susceptible at 100 μg/ml of leaf and stem oils with inhibition zones of 15.9 and 13.1 mm respectively. Among all the fungi tested, A. niger inhibited effectively with a zone of inhibition of 14.9 and 11.5 mm for leaf and stem oils respectively. The results obtained suggest that the essential oils of the plant possess antimicrobial properties and serve as a biofriendly source of antimicrobial ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to Dr. M. Vairamani, Head, Analytical Chemistry Division, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, India for having provided the facility for GC and GC-MS. One of the authors (Ravi Kiran) is thankful to Mrs. Saroja Ranganath and Mrs. Jacqueline Paul, Aurora’s Degree & PG College, Hyderabad for helping in preparation of the manuscript.
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Ravi Kiran, S., Sita Devi, P. & Janardhan Reddy, K. Evaluation of in vitro antimicrobial activity of leaf and stem essential oils of Chloroxylon swietenia DC.. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 24, 1909–1914 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-008-9693-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-008-9693-7