Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) Essential Oil

Essential oils from the whole aerial parts as well as stem/leaf, inflorescence and unripe and ripe seeds were isolated through hydro-distillation from aerial parts of feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium L.) plants were collected from Hamedan and Tehran regions at the vegetative, flowering and seeding stages. The amount of essential oil obtained from the above parts of the Hamedan plant samples were 3.80%, 6.01%, 3.61%, 0.49% and 0.31% (w/w) and from those collected from Tehran were 4.96%, 6.94%, 3.39%, 0.96% and 0.87% (w/w), respectively. Analysis of extracted oil by GC and GC/MS showed that camphor was the major constituent in total oils (10.3%-53.3%) followed by chrysanthenyl acetate (4.3%-22.5%) and camphene (4.1%-10.4%). However, bornyl acetate, a-pinene and p-cymene were found in the plant samples from Hamedan only. The antimicrobial activity of the oils was determined using the disk diffusion method against Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, B. cereus, Micrococcus luteus & Staphylococcus aureus), Gram negative bacteria (Yersinia enterocolitica, Klebsiella oxytoca, Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli & Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and yeast (Candida albicans). Results showed a significant difference between Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria in their susceptibility to the oil, so that Gram positive bacteria were more susceptible to the antimicrobial activity of feverfew oil. In addition, the oil extracted from Hamedan samples showed more antimicrobial activity compared to those from Tehran. © 2010 Friends Science Publishers