Chemical composition and in vitro antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Calycolpus moritzianus (O. Berg) Burret from Mérida, Venezuela

Abstract

The chemical constituents of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves of Calycolpus moritzianus (O. Berg) Burret, syn Psidium caudatum Mc Vaught, collected in November 2006 in Mérida State,Venezuela, were identified by GC-MS analysis. Thirty components (91.1% of the sample) were identified, of which the seven major ones were β-caryophyllene (21.9%), α-pinene (10.9%), viridiflorol (9.7%), β-selinene (6.1%), α-copaene (6.3%), α-selinene (5.3%) and γ-eudesmol (5.1%). The oil was found to have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC (6538) and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC (29212), with MIC values of 60 μg/mL and 180 μg/mL, respectively.