Chemical Composition and Evaluation of Antibacterial Activities of Essential Oil from Lemon (Citrus aurantifolia L.) Leaves Growing Tien Giang Province, Vietnam

摘要

Chemical compounds from essential oils have been receiving a great deal of public attention owing to a myriad of functions, including their role as a substitute for artificial preservatives. This study reports the physico-chemical characteristics and the antibacterial activities of the essential oil isolated from the leaves of lemon {Citrus aurantifolia L.) grown in Tien Giang Province, Vietnam. The essential oils were obtained by microwave assisted hydro-distillation and their chemical composition was investigated by GC-MS. The result revealed that the oil is extremely rich in a-citral, reaching the content of 27.982 %, followed by P-citronellol and D-limonene at 20.06 and 15.732 %, respectively. Besides, antibacterial activities of extracted essential oil against 4 bacterial cultures i.e., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus was examined, highlighting strong antibacterial properties of citral in the oil.