Chemical Composition, Antimicrobial Activity and Chemotaxonomy of Essential Oil of Aerial Parts of Hypericum rumeliacum Boiss. Species

The essential oil isolated from aerial parts of Hypericum rumeliacum Boiss. was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Forty three identified compounds accounted for 98.8 % of the total oil. The main components of the oil were: (E)-beta-ocimene (18.2 %), beta-pinene (14.7 %), (Z)-beta-ocimene (13.0 %), dodecanal (7.4 %) germacrene D (5.8 %) and myrcene (5.8 %). The volatile profile of H. rumeliacum was characterized by a large content of monoterpene hydrocarbons (68.2 %), followed by non-terpenoids (14.4 %) and sesqiuterpenoids (11.8 %). Multivariate statistical analyses (agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis) were used to compare and discuss interrelationship within the mentioned species based on essential oil profiles. The oil was tested in a broth microdilution assay against five bacterial and two fungal strains and found to have mainly moderate antimicrobial effects.