Compositions and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils from the Leaves of Beilschmiedia fordii Dunn. and Lindera glauca (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume from Vietnam

Beilschmiedia fordii Dunn. and Lindera glauca (Siebold & Zucc.), of the Lauraceae family have been used in ethnomedicine for the amelioration of diseases especially microbial infections. The compositions and antimicrobial activity of essential oils from the leaves of B. fordii and L. glauca were reported. The main constituents of the leaf essential oil of B. fordii were the monoterpene hydrocarbons namely alpha-pinene (45.1%), camphene (18.9%), beta-pinene (16.5%) and limonene (9.0%). On the other hand, the sesquiterpenes, beta-caryophyllene (29.2%), alpha-humulene (18.0%) and caryophyllene oxide (14.6%) were the significant compounds of L. glauca leaf essential oil. The essential oil from the leaves of B. fordii exhibited promising antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 and Bacillus cereus ATCC14579, as well as anti-candidal action towards Candida albicans ATCC 10231, with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 16.0 mu g/mL. This is the first report on the chemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of essential oils from B. fordii from any part of the world. To the best of our knowledge, the antimicrobial activity of L. glauca leaf essential oil was being reported for the first time.