Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oil of Satureja macrosiphonia Bornm., from Iran

The essential oil compositions of Satureja macrosiphonia were characterized. The oils were isolated from aerial flowering parts of the plants by hydrodistillation and subjected to GC and GC-MS to determine the constituents. Forty two compounds corresponding to 99.9 % of the total oil were identified. Oxygenated monoterpens showed the highest percentage with 77.1 % of the total oil. Trans-sabinene hydrate (15.0 %), 4-terpineol (14.8 %), linalool (9.9 %), borneol (8.2 %), cis-sabinene hydrate (8.1 %) and carvacrol (5.7 %) were the major components. Antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated. The essential oil exhibited considerable antimicrobial activity on tested bacteria and fungi except for two resistant microbial strains, Aspergillus niger and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The most sensitive bacteria to the essential oil of this Satureja species were S. epidermis, B. pumulis and B. subtilis with IZ values of 30, 31 and 32 mm respectively and MIC values of .0.93 mg/ml for all of them. It is suggested that the essential oil of S. macrophonia has a great potential for antimicrobial properties.