Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the essential oil of Chaerophyllum libanoticum Boiss. et Kotschy

Chaerophyllum libanoticum Boiss. et Kotschy from Apiaceae, is collected and used as a food plant in Turkey. The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the crushed fruits of C. libanoticum collected from Osmaniye, Southern Turkey, was simultaneously analysed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). As a result, a total of seventy three components were characterized, representing 98.3% of the total oil with monoterpenes as the major group. The principal constituents were identified as β-phellandrene (17.6%), limonene (15.9%), β-pinene (8.8%), and sabinene (8.5%), respectively. The essential oil was evaluated for its antimicrobial activity using a microdilution assay resulting in the inhibition of a number of common human pathogenic bacteria including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the yeast Candida albicans. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) varied between 0.25 and 0.5 mg/ml which is within a moderate antimicrobial activity range. Furthermore, the antioxidant capacity of the essential oil was examined using an in vitro radical scavenging activity test. The C. libanoticum essential oil scavenged 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), resulting in IC50 > 30 mg/ml. In addition, the effect on inhibition of lipid peroxidation of the essential oil was assayed using β-carotene bleaching and haemoglobin induced linoleic acid peroxidation methods resulting in 16% antioxidative activity.