African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (10), pp. 1156-1160, October 2005          
ISSN 1684–5315 © 2005 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Composition and antimicrobial activities of the leaf and flower essential oils of Lippia chevalieri and Ocimum canum from Burkina Faso

Bassole IHN¹*, Nebie R², Savadogo A¹, Ouattara CT¹, Barro N¹, Traore SA¹

¹Centre de Recherche en Sciences Biologiques, Alimentaires et Nutritionnelles, Laboratoire de Microbiologie et de Biotechnologie, Université de Ouagadougou 03 BP 7131 Ouagadougou 03 Burkina Faso.

² Institut de Recherche en Sciences Appliquees et Technologiques, Departement de Substances Naturelles 03 BP 7047 Ouagadougou 03 Burkina Faso.

*Corresponding author. E-mail address: ismael.bassole@univ-ouaga.bf.

Accepted 22 September, 2005

The essential oils of the air dried leaves and flowers of Lippia chevalieri Moldenke and Ocimum canum Sims from Burkina Faso were analysed by GC-MS. Essential oil of the leaves of L. chevalieri is composed mainly of thymol (27.4%), p-cymene (21.1%), and 2-phenyl-ethyl-propionate (12.6%), while the oils from flower is composed of b-elemene (33%), ethyl cinnamate (30.3%) and a-amorphene (12.4%). O. canum leaves and flowers oils consisted mainly in 1,8-cineole (60.1%) and cis, trans-piperitol (68.5%), respectively. The antimicrobial activities of the essential oils were evaluated against 9 bacteria by agar diffusion method. The leaves of both plants showed higher activity than their flowers. The leaves of L. chevalieri were active against Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria whereas only Gram positive bacteria were sensitive to the essential oil of the O. canum leaves. Flower essential oils did not show any significant activity.

Key words: Lippia chevalieri, Ocimum canum, essential oils, chemical composition, antibacterial activity.