Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from the rhizome of <i style="">Canna indica</i> Linn

Abstract

The essential oil of the rhizome of <i style="">Canna indica</i> Linn. (yellow flower variety) has been isolated by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC/MS. Forty-three compounds representing 95.32% of the oil have been identified. The sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and their derivatives form the major part (52.56%). The major terpene/terpenoid constituents of the essential oil of rhizome are <img src='/image/spc_char/gamma2.gif' border=0>-eudesmol (9.79%), δ-cadinol (6.33%), <img src='/image/spc_char/gamma2.gif' border=0>-selinene (5.23%) and luciferin (5.05%). Surprisingly, certain fatty acids are also found to be present in noticeable amount, palmitic acid (8.53%) being the main. The oil showed good antibacterial activity against <i style="">Staphylococcus aureus</i> but mild activity against <i style="">Bacillus subtilis</i>