Chemical Composition and In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of the Essential Oil of Cedrus atlantica

This work was conducted to determine the phytochemistry and antibacterial activity of the essential oil from leaves of Cedrus atlantica growing in Morocco. The chemical constituents of the essential oil obtained from the leaves of Cedrus atlantica in the Atlas median, mountain region of Morocco was determined by hydro-distillation, analysed by gas chromatography equipped with flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antimicrobial activities were tested in vitro on gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus sphericus and Staphylococcus intermedius using agar disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Thirty one compounds were identified in leaves oil representing 92.40% of the total oil composition. The yield of essential oil of Cedrus atlantica was 1.82% and the major compound in aerial parts was a-pinene (14,85%) followed by himachalene (10.14%), p-himachalene (9,89%), c-himachalene (7,62%), cis-a-atlantone (6,78%), himachalol (5,26%) and a-himachalene (4,15%), germacrene D (3.52%), p-caryophyllene (3.14%), cadinene (3.02%), p-pinene (2.35%), humulene (2.30%) and copaene (2.26%). The bacterial strains tested were found to be sensitive to essential oil studied and showed very effective bactericidal activity with the strongest inhibition zone: 12 at 25 mm and 6 at 22 mm for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers