Studies on the Chemical Components and Antimicrobial Activities of Volatile Oil from Rosmarinus officinalis L.

[Objective] Study on the chemical components and antimicrobial activities of volatile oil from Rosmarinus officinalis L.[Method] The volatile oil was extracted from Rosmarinus officinalis L.by water steam distillation and its chemical constituents were analyzed by GC-MS.Its antimicrobial activities were investigated by plate diffuse and the minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC) was investigated by plate spread.[Result] The extract ratio of volatile oil from Rosmarinus officinalis L.was 2.27% and 20 compounds were identified from volatile oil,accounting for 99.5% of its total content,the major chemical compositions of volatile oil are α-pinene(43.36%) and 1,8-cineole(32.10%).The volatile oil had inhibition to all bacterial species in our experiments,the minimum inhibitory concentration to Staphylococus aureus,Escherichia coli,Bacillus subtilis,Aspergillus niger,Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium citrinum were: 5,80,80,10,20 and 10 ml/L,respectively.[Conclusion] Volatile oil from Rosmarinus officinalis L.has broad-spectrum antimicrobial activities.