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Abstract
This paper reports the chemical compounds and antimicrobial activity of essential oils isolated from the leaves, stem, and rhizomes of Alpinia kwangsiensis T. L. Wu and S. J. Chen (Zingiberaceae). The essential oils were separately isolated using hydrodistillation of the pulverized samples (2 kg each) materials in an all- glass Clevenger-type apparatus and characterized by GC-FID and GC/MS. The yields of the essential oils were 0.16, 0.11 %, and 0.21 % (w/w), respectively, calculated on a dry weight basis. The main constituents of the essential oils (percentages, respectively) were 1,8-cineole (16.9 %, 14.3 % and 5.8 %), terpinene-4-ol (16.0 %, 13.6 % and 14.3 %), (E)-methyl cinnamate (9.4 %, 15.4 % and 4.6 %) and β-pinene (7.6 %, 9.9.% and 3.1 %). The study found out that the rhizome essential oil was the most active against Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 299212 with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 1.60 μg/mL, while the leaf oil displayed pronounce activity towards Bacillus cereus ATCC 14579 (MIC 3.20 μg/mL). All the essential oils inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Candida albicans ATCC 10231, with MIC value of 6.40 μg/mL. Therefore, the essential oils obtained from A. kwangisensis may have potential applications as antimicrobial agents.