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Research & Reviews : Journal of Botany

Chemical Composition, Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity Studies on Essential Oils of Ocimum basilicum Linn. from Saudi Arabia

  1. Naveena Lavanya Latha Jeevigunta

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the chemical constituents, antibacterial and antifungal activities of Ocimum basilicum. L essential oil extracted from the areal parts of the plant. Essential oil was extracted by hydro distillation for 3 h using a Clevenger apparatus. Anhydrous sodium sulphate was used to remove the moisture from the extracted volatile oil. Essential oil was characterized using Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed 39 chemical constituents in the 99.92% of the total essential oil. Among them, Linalool (41.28%), Geraniole (22.04%), Estragole (7.60%) and Neroleacetate (5.01%) were the major components, and others are minor components. The essential oil showed potential antibacterial activity against gram positive bacteria than gram negative bacteria. S. aureus (32.0±0.9 mm), B. cereus (32.0±0.9 mm), B. subtilis (29.1±1.2 mm), E. cloacae (25.2±1.0 mm), and M. flavus (24.2±1.0 mm) showed strong antibacterial activity. Essential oil showed potent antifungal activity against yeast and fungal strains A. alternaria (32.1±0.1 mm), A. fumigates (31.8±0.8 mm), F. oxyporum (30.4±0.2 mm), A. flavus (21.0±0.6 mm), C. herbarum (20.2±0.1 mm). Minimum inhibition concentration range between antibacterial and antifungal activity of the essential oils is 1.0±0.2 to 5.0±1.2 μg/ml and 1.0±0.3 to 4.5±0.8 μg/ml respectively. The present study indicates that O. basilicum L. essential oil can be used for its antibacterial and antifungal activity.

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