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. 2014;7 Spec No. 3(Spec Iss 3):56-60.

Thymus vulgaris essential oil: chemical composition and antimicrobial activity

O Borugă  1 , C Jianu  2 , C Mişcă  2 , I Goleţ  3 , A T Gruia  4 , F G Horhat  5
Affiliations

Thymus vulgaris essential oil: chemical composition and antimicrobial activity

O Borugă et al. J Med Life. 2014.

Abstract

The study was designed to determine the chemical composition and antimicrobial properties of the essential oil of Thymus vulgaris cultivated in Romania. The essential oil was isolated in a yield of 1.25% by steam distillation from the aerial part of the plant and subsequently analyzed by GC-MS. The major components were p-cymene (8.41%), γ-terpinene (30.90%) and thymol (47.59%). Its antimicrobial activity was evaluated on 7 common food-related bacteria and fungus by using the disk diffusion method. The results demonstrate that the Thymus vulgaris essential oil tested possesses strong antimicrobial properties, and may in the future represent a new source of natural antiseptics with applications in the pharmaceutical and food industry.

Keywords: GC-MS analysis; antimicrobial activity; essential oil; thyme.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The antimicrobial activity of thyme oil, at different amounts, expressed as a mean inhibition zone for each of the nine repeated measurements
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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