Chemical Components and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils of Petiveria alliacea Leaves Extracts

Abstract

A steam distillation technique was employed to obtain oil from the leaf of P. alliacea. The oil obtained was subjected to GC/MS analysis to determine the chemical components, which showed the presence of sulphur heterocyclic compounds, 1,2,3-trithiolane (3), 1,2,5 trithiepane (4) and 1,2,5,6-tetrathiocane (7) as well as benzenecarbothioic acid (8) that have not been reported previously as components in the crude extracts of Petiveria alliacea. The crude extracts showed antimicrobial activity on the following microorganisms Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Rhizopus sp., Aspergillus niger. The tests showed that the extract was most effective at limiting the growth of Salmonella typhi and the Rhizopus sp. (MIC 3.125 µg/mL and MBC value of 6.25 µg/mL). The ethanol extract using the Soxhlet technique was the most effective on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Rhizopus sp., and Aspergillus niger (MIC 3.125 µg/mL).