Chemical compositions and antimicrobial activities of the essential oil from Pterocarya stenoptera C. DC

The present study investigated the chemical compositions and antimicrobial activities of essential oil from Pterocarya stenoptera. The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the dried leaves of P. stenoptera was analysed by GC–MS and 39 constituents accounting for the total 90.44% of the oil were identified. The main constituents were δ-cadinene (24.83%), caryophyllene oxide (9.10%), α-cadinol (7.48%) and β-elemene (6.24%). The antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated by disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The essential oil was found to show broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities against all the tested microorganisms. Bacillus subtilis was the most sensitive strain with the minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.23 mg/mL. The results suggested that the essential oil was a potential source of natural antimicrobials in food preservation and pharmaceutical industry.