Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oil of Belpharis linariifolia

The study was aimed to investigate essential oil chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of essential oils extracted from seeds of Belpharis linariifolia. The oil was extracted according to the method described by Harborne (1984). and analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques to determine the chemical composition of the volatile fraction and identify their chemo-types. The essential oil of Belpharis linariifolia seeds were tested against four standard bacterial species: two Gram-positive bacteria viz, Bacillus subtilis (NCTC 8236) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), two Gram-negative bacterial strains Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and fungal strains viz, Candida albicans (ATCC 7596) using the paper disc diffusion method. Twenty two components were identified in the essential oil of Belpharis linariifolia representing 82.87% of the total components, the major compounds were Acetic acid (11.60%), 4-acetyl-2-isopropyl-5,5-dimethyltetrahydrofuran-2-yl (11.60%), 3-Cyano-2-Oxa-1-Ethoxyadamanane (13.09%), Ethyl 3-methyl-2-oxobutyrate (15.49%), Hexatriacontane (8.18%) and Dotriacontane (16.03%). Antimicrobial activity of essential oil of Belpharis linariifolia dissolved in methanol (1:10), showed low activity against the Gram-negative bacteria ( P. aeruginosa & E. coli) (14 & 11 mm). It also showed against Gram positive bacteria ( S. aureus & B. subtilis) (11.5 & 14 mm) and against (C. albicans) (zero mm). This study conducted for essential oil of Belpharis linariifolia seeds presence of variable compounds with diverse structures and low antimicrobial activity.