In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Monoterpenes against some Food-Borne Pathogens

Abstract

The present work describes the antimicrobial activity of twenty-five monoterpenes against Gram-negative Escherichia coli and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus. The antibacterial activity was evaluated by broth microdilution technique as a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the antifungal activity was estimated by mycelia radial growth technique as (EC 50). The results showed that thymol and α-terpineol were the most potent against E. coli with MIC of 45 and 55 mg/L, 135 and 225 mg/L against S. aureus, respectively. The results also showed that thymol exhibited the highest antifungal activity against A. flavus with EC 50 20 mg/L. Furthermore, the antioxidant properties were explored using N,N-dimethyl-1,4-phenylenediamine (DMPD) and the results showed that geraniol were the most potent compound (IC 50 = 19 mg/L).