Volatile Constituents of Nepeta ciliaris Benth. roots from Kumaun Himalayas

The volatile constituents of Nepeta ciliaris Benth. roots were obtained by hydro-distillation and identified using Gas chromatography–Flame ionization detector (GC–FID) and Gas chromatography–Mass spectrometry (GC–MS) technique. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of crude oil has been carried out by using agar well diffusion method against five bacteria causing respiratory infections. Twenty compounds from essential oil of N. ciliaris were identified which represents 99.7 % of the total oil, consisting of oxygenated monoterpenoids (15.5 %), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (77.4 %), oxygenated sesquiterpenoids (3.5 %) and diterpene hydrocarbons (3.3 %). The major constituents are α-ylangene (32.1 %), β-caryophyllene (16.1 %), guaiacol (11.3 %), α-humulene (8.1 %), isolongifolene (8.0 %), trans-α-bergamotene (4.5 %), and β-cyclocitral (3.0 %) while others were present in relatively small amounts. The antibacterial assay showed significant results against test bacterial strains.