Abstract

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from the aerial parts of Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. Twenty six components representing 97.6% of the total oil were identified. The major constituents were pulegone (34.4%), piperitenone (15.1%), 1-8- cineole (6.5%), neo-menthol (5.7%), menth-2-en-1- ol (5.3%), menthol (5.2%), carvacrol (5.1%) and menthone (4.5%). Antibacterial activity of the oil was tested against some human pathogenic bacteria. This oil showed good activity against all tested bacteria, except forPseudomonas aeruginosa, which is possibly due to the high levels of pulegone in their compositions. However, the essential oil of Z. clinopodioides Lam. is a suitable plant drug against some human pathogenic bacteria.

Key words: Ziziphora clinopodioides, antibacterial activity, essential oil composition, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC).