Essential oil content and composition of endemic Origanum syriacum ssp. sinaicum and it’s antimicrobial activity

Abstract

Numerous endemic plants grow naturally in Egypt especially in South Sinai Peninsula at Saint Katherine protectorate, one of those important plants is Origanum syriacum ssp. Sinaicum. Leaves of Origanum plants have an important role in both modern and folk medicine due to their secondary metabolites (Essential oil). The essential oil yield quantity of O. syriacum hydro-distilled through Clevenger apparatus was 6.5 %. The chemical compositions of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Major component of GC-MS analysis essential oil detected as oxygenated monoterpenes was carvacrol (95.37 %). The essential oil of O. syriacum leaves was found to possess antibacterial activity against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteria and antifungal activity against Candida albicans.