Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils of Chaenomeles speciosa from China

The chemical composition of essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the dried fruits of Chaenomeles speciosa was analyzed by GC-MS. Forty compounds, constituting about 85.13% of the total oil, were identified. The main constituents were beta-caryophyllene (12.52%), alpha-terpineol (5.41%), terpinen-4-ol (4.56%) and 1,8-cineole (4.31%). The antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated against 10 microorganisms using disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The essential oil was found to show a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against all the tested bacterial strains. The essential oil had more sensitivity to gram-positive than gram-negative bacteria. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.