Essential Oil Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Methyl cinnamate-Linalool Chemovariant of Ocimum basilicum L. from India

The essential oils obtained from hydrodistillation of  Ocimum basilicum L. harvested at four different growth stages during spring-summer and rain-autumn cropping seasons , were characterized using GC and GC-MS. The e ssential oil yield was found to vary from 0.28–0.32% and 0.40–0.52% during spring-summer and rain-autumn cropping season, respectively with its maximal at full bloom stage. Altogether , forty constituents, comprising 94.9–98.3% were identified represented by ( E )-methyl cinnamate (36.6 – 66.4%), linalool (11.2 – 43.8%), and (Z )-methyl cinnamate (5.4-7.6%) as main constituents. Results showed that growth stages strongly influenced the chemical composition of the essential oil in two cropping seasons, particularly concerning to the content of ( E )-methyl cinnamate and linalool. Seed setting stage was optimized for harvesting ( E )-methyl cinnamate rich oil (66.4%) in rain-winter cropping season. The antimicrobial potential of the essential oil was tested againist eight pathogenic bacteria and three fungal strains. Antimicrobial assay showed that the essential oil possessed good antibacterial activity against Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli , and antifungal activity against Candida kefyr and Candida albicans.