Essential Oils from the Aerial Part and Rhizome of Amomum muricarpum Elmer and Their Antimicrobial Activity

Abstract

Chemical compositions in essential oils of Amomum muricarpum Elmer were determined using GC-MS/GC-FID. In the hydro-distilled oils of aerial part and rhizome, twenty-eight and thirty-three constituents were identified, accounting for 98.73 and 97.88%, respectively. A. muricarpum essential oils were associated with the presence of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and their oxygenated types. Monoterpenes (> 80.00%) were major compounds, in which the main compound α-pinene reached the highest percentage of 62.94-74.97%. A. muricarpum essential oils showed antimicrobial activity against the positive Gram bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger with the respective MIC values of 400 and 100 µg/mL. This study provides new information that Vietnamese medicinal plant A. muricarpum are a rich resource of monoterpene α-pinene.