Volatile constituents and antibacterial screening of the essential oil of Chenopodium ambrosioides L. growing in Nigeria.

The essential oil of the aerial parts of Chenopodium ambrosioides L. has been isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed using GC-MS. The major components were found to be alpha-terpinene (63.1%), p-cymene (26.4%) and ascaridole (3.9%). The oil displayed no antibacterial activity against either Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus cereus or Staphylococcus aureus, or the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli (MIC=1250 microg/mL). A cluster analysis of C. ambrosioides essential oils reveals at least seven distinct chemotypes: ascaridole, alpha-terpinene, alpha-pinene, p-cymene, carvacrol, alpha-terpinyl acetate, and limonene.