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

Abstract

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 α-citral, reaching the content of 27.982 %, followed by β-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.