Chemical characterization by GLC & GC-MS and antimicrobial activity of essential oil from leaves of Chrysanthemum indicum Linn

A steam distilled volatile oil obtained from the leaves of Chrysanthemum indicum Linn. (FamilyCompositae) was analyzed by capillary GC and GC-MS. The volatile oil mainly comprises of thirty nine (39) components out of which thirty one (31) constituents comprising 82.6% of the oil were identified. The volatile oil mainly contains monoterpenes (48.1%). Isoborneol, a monoterpene, was the predominant characterized constituent (14.40 %) among all isolated constituents of volatile oil. Out of the twelve (12) monoterpenes, there were five (5) hydrocarbons (9.6%) and seven (7) oxygenated monoterpenes (38.5%). In sesquiterpenic group, nineteen (19) components were isolated (34.5%) and out of nineteen (19) sesquiterpenes, there were sixteen hydrocarbon (33.5%) and three oxygenated sesquiterpenes (1%) and among these sesquiterpenes, δ-cadinene (5.5%) was the predominant characterized constituent. Eight (8) other components comprising 17.4% of all the isolates were unidentified. The volatile oil has shown maximum antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (16.5 mm) at a concentration of 1%v/v followed by against Micrococcus luteus (13 mm) on comparison with erythromycin as standard antibacterial agent. The volatile oil has also shown antifungal activity against Candida albicans (18 mm) at the same concentration of 1%v/v, when compared with ketoconazole as standard antifungal agent.