Chemical Characterization and Antibacterial Evaluation of Juniperus phoenicea L. Leaves and Fruits' Essential Oils from Eastern High Atlas (Morocco)

Aromatic and medicinal plants are a great source of complex molecules exploited by mankind in many industrial fields. Currently, the increasing use of natural occurring compounds has been observed and this fact justifies the increasing production of certain medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP). In this work, we were interested to valorize Juniperus phoenicea, a native species from Moroccan Eastern High Atlas (Tounfite). This plant is used in traditional medicine for its medicinal properties to treat many infectious diseases. J. phoeniceau0027s leaves and fruits harvested in the flowering period (October 2013) have been subjected to hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The yields of extracted essential oils (EOs) are about 1.71% and 2.01% respectively for leaves and fruits. Analysis of the chemical composition of both EOs (from leaves and fruits), by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, has shown their richness in monoterpenes (81.05% and 51.73%) and sesquiterpenes (13.71% and 38.08%). Both EOs are widely dominated by ?-pinene (78.11% - 48.18% respectively). Antimicrobial activity of these oils was evaluated against four clinical strains: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The results have shown that P. aeruginosa and S. aureus strains are sensitive to leavesu0027 EO with inhibition areas that reached 23 mm and 26 mm respectively. The same minimum inhibitory concentration of 5.60