Abstract
Ravenia spectabilis Engl. belongs to the family Rutaceae is known to possess several biologically active phytomolecules. This study was planned to investigate the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the leaf essential oil of R. spectabilis. The hydrodistillation of fresh leaves of R. spectabilis gave 0.19 ± 0.02% essential oil. The resulting essential oil was analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Altogether, thirty-one constituents forming 97.6 ± 1.72% of the total oil composition were identified. Major components of the oil were sabinene (60.8 ± 0.36%), α-pinene (5.4 ± 0.30%), myrcene (4.8 ± 0.25%), δ-3-carene (4.7 ± 0.62%) and β-pinene (4.3 ± 0.17%). The in-vitro antimicrobial potential of the oil was examined against eight human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. The essential oil showed significant activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis, Candida albicans, and Candida kefyr. This is the first report on R. spectabilis leaf essential oil composition and its antimicrobial activity. The essential oil could be a promising natural source of sabinene and antimicrobial for developing new phytotherapeutics.
Graphical Abstract
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the CSIR, New Delhi, for financial support (Project: HCP-0007) and the Director, CSIR-CIMAP, for continuous encouragement and support.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.