GC/MS Analysis and Antibacterial Activity of the Essential Oil of Mentha Pulegium Grown in Morocco

The Leaves of Mentha pulegium, a traditional herbal medicine in Morocco were collected in the region of Boulmane (Skoura) and then dried in the open air for seventeen days and kept for extraction. The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation method and analysed by gas chromatography equipped with flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine their chemical composition of the volatile fraction and identify their chemotypes. The leaf extracts were used to test the antimicrobial activity against seven bacteria: Staphylococcus intermedius, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa Escherichia coli, Klebsielle pneumoniae, and Proteus mirabilis. Twenty eight constituents were identified. The essential oil yields and the total oil of the studies were 1.66% and 97.34% respectively. The major component was piperitone (35.56%), other predominant constituents were: piperitenone (21.18%), a-terpineol (10.89%), pulegone (6.452%), piperitone oxide (4.02%), menthol (3.28%), menthone (3.09%), neomenthol (2.80%), menthofuran (2.15%), isomenthone (1.56%), carvone (1.13%), geranyl acetate (1.06%), germacrene D (1.03%) and limonene (1.02%). Staphylococcus intermedius, Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus were the most sensitive strain tested to the oil of Mentha pulegium with the strongest inhibition zone 32, 24 and 21mm respectively.