Chemical Composition and In vitro Antifungal and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oil from Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. Leaves

The chemical composition and the in vitro antifungal and antioxidant activity of essential oil of Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng leaves have been studied. The yield of M. koenigii leaf essential oil (MKLEO) recorded as 0.52% which is higher than those reported earlier. Altogether 43 compounds were identified by GC-MS analysis representing 99.79% of the total composition of the oil, among which 3-carene, βpinene, α-pinene, linalool, α-eudesmol, p-cymene, γ-terpinene, α-amorphene, allo-ocimene, sabinene, γterpinene, linalyl acetate, myrcene, β- eudesmol, carvone, limonene, β-elemene, α-terpineol were major constituents. Antifungal activity of MKLEO was tested against ten pathogenic fungi and it was found effective in a dose dependent manner. Furthermore, MKLEO was found to exhibit superior radical scavenging potency and reducing power with IC50 and RP50 values close to those of the standards.