Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of four Ocimum species growing in Tanzania
As part of ongoing research on Tanzanian plants used as edibles or spices, six samples of essential oils from four Ocimum species ( O. basilicum, O. kilimandscharicum, O. lamiifolium, O. suave) were analyzed by GC and GC–MS. Eighty-one compounds, corresponding to 81.1–98.2% of the chemical component...
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Published in | Food chemistry Vol. 119; no. 1; pp. 311 - 316 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Kidlington
Elsevier Ltd
01.03.2010
[Amsterdam]: Elsevier Science Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | As part of ongoing research on Tanzanian plants used as edibles or spices, six samples of essential oils from four
Ocimum species (
O.
basilicum,
O. kilimandscharicum,
O. lamiifolium,
O. suave) were analyzed by GC and GC–MS. Eighty-one compounds, corresponding to 81.1–98.2% of the chemical components of the oils, were identified. Major compounds were either phenyl propane derivatives or terpenoids, including methyl eugenol, 1,8-cineole, camphor, bornyl acetate, germacrene-D, E-myroxide, germacrene-B, caryophylene oxide and
p-cymene. The oils were also evaluated for antimicrobial activity against eight bacterial strains and three fungi. The oil of
O.
suave (B) showed the strongest antibacterial activity;
O.
suave (A), O.
kilimandscharicum and,
O.
lamiifolium were moderately active, while
O.
basilicum oil was weakly active. However, none of the oils was active against the fungi species. The study has shown that,
Ocimum oils could potentially be used as anti-infective agents. |
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Bibliography: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.06.028 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0308-8146 1873-7072 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.06.028 |