Essential oil composition and antimicrobial activity of tuberous roots of Pimpinella tirupatiensis Bal. & Subr., an endemic taxon from eastern ghats, India

The tuberous roots of Pimpinella tirupatiensis (Apiaceae) were subjected to sequential extraction with different polar solvents and the extracts were tested against eight bacterial and three fungal pathogenic strains for antimicrobial activity. The minimum inhibitory concentration of active extracts against six bacterial and two fungal strains were determined. The hexane and ethyl acetate fractions exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and were analysed for different phytochemicals. The active extracts contained significant amounts of alkaloids, flavonols, flavones and volatile oils. The hexane extract yielded an essential oil when subjected to GC with FID. The compounds were identified based on their retention indices and yielded 24 known compounds and one unknown compound. The major compounds are beta-bisabolene (9.2%), Delta-3-carene (8.9%), ciscarveol (6.7%), elemol (5.8%), Delta-cadinol (4.4%), methyl geranate (4.3%) and gamma-nonalactone (3.4%). Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.