Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activity of the Essential Oil Isolated from South African Mentha longifolia (L.) L. subsp. capensis (Thunb.) Briq.

The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from Mentha longifolia of South Africa origin was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. A total of 31 components were identified, accounting for 99.7% of the oil composition. Menthone (50.9%), pulegone (19.3%) and 1,8-cineole (11.9%) were the major constituents of the oil. The oil was screened against Gram + and Gram - bacteria and found to be very active against Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus kristinae, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis with minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging from 0.039 to 0.078 μg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]