Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of Gentiana asclepiadea L.

The present paper describes the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of Gentiana asclepiadea L., collected in Serbia. The essential oils were obtained from the underground part (root and rhizome) and aerial part (stem, leaves and flowers) of the plant by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The major compounds in the oil from the underground part were caryophyllene oxide (7.32 %), β-damascenone (6.98 %) and β-ionone (2.79 %). The main constituents identified in the oil from the aerial part of G. asclepiadea were toluene (3.79 %), tetradecanoic acid (3.37 %), linalool (3.17 %) and caryophyllene oxide (2.97 %). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was tested against some bacteria strains and Candida albicans using the twofold dilution method in the concentration range of 5.00 - 0.078 µL mL -1 . Klebsiela pneumoniae was very sensitive to the oil from the underground part with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.62 µL mL -1 . The oil from the aerial part exhibited a maximum activity against M. lysodeikticus and C. albicans, with MIC values of 2.5 µL mL -1