CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF MEDICINALLY USEFUL ESSENTIAL OIL FROM THE INFLORESCENCE OF EUPHORBIA HELIOSCOPIA L. GROWN IN EGYPT

The genus Euphorbia has about 2000 members making it one of the largest ones among the flowering plants. Euphorbia helioscopia L. As the chemical composition of the essential oil from Euphorbia helioscopia developed in Egypt has not yet been explored, along these lines the present to extricate the essential oil and investigate the oil chemical composition and antimicrobial activity. Essential oil from the whole inflorescence of the flowering plant, Euphorbia helioscopia Linn. was extracted by hydrodistillation method. The chemical composition of the obtained volatile oil was investigated by GC-MS. The major components include thymol (48.36%), Caryophyllene (23.57%), carvacrol (6.70%), caffeic acid (6.48%) and caryophyllene oxide (5.58). Minor components as translongipinocarveol (2.77%) and DL-malic acid (1.9%). Screening antimicrobial activity of the isolated volatile oil against four bacteria showed that it was active only against Bacillus subtilis with an inhibition zone of 11 mm ± 0.25 and MIC value 17 mg /ml. Gentamycin was utilized as a positive antibacterial control. The data of this study might be considered as the first identification of the chemical composition of the essential oil of the plant species grown in Egypt. Essential oils may have a moderate potential as a natural medicine for microbial infections against Bacillus subtilis.