Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the leaf essential oil of Engl. (Rutaceae).

Engl. belongs to the family Rutaceae is known to possess several biologically active phytomolecules. This study was planned to investigate the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the leaf essential oil of . The hydrodistillation of fresh leaves of gave 0.19 ± 0.02% essential oil. The resulting essential oil was analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Altogether, thirty-one constituents forming 97.6 ± 1.72% of the total oil composition were identified. Major components of the oil were sabinene (60.8 ± 0.36%), -pinene (5.4 ± 0.30%), myrcene (4.8 ± 0.25%), -3-carene (4.7 ± 0.62%) and -pinene (4.3 ± 0.17%). The antimicrobial potential of the oil was examined against eight human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. The essential oil showed significant activity against , , methicillin-resistant , methicillin-resistant , , and . This is the first report on leaf essential oil composition and its antimicrobial activity. The essential oil could be a promising natural source of sabinene and antimicrobial for developing new phytotherapeutics.