Composition and antibacterial activities of volatile oil of Millingtohia hortensis flowers from Sultanate of Oman

Millingtonia hortensis commonly known as Tree Jasmine or Indian Cork Tree, is indigenous to Burma and the Malay Archipelago and cultivated as an ornamental plant in some countries. The flowers, root and bark are used medicinally. In this study, the volatile oil (VO) obtained by the hydro-distillation of the flowers of the plant grown in Sultanate of Oman, has been analyzed by GC-MS. A total of 32 compounds have been identified that formed major part (97.7%) of the volatile oil. The main components of VO were L-linalool (29.16%), α-farnesene (11.80%), nerolidol (11.34%), pentacosane (9.69%), l-octen-3-ol (7.62%), (e)-isoeugenol (4.87%), α-terpineol (3.82%), linalool oxide (3.68%), heptacosane (3.03%) and tricosane (2.63%). The volatile oil has been tested for its antimicrobial activity against eleven bacteria wherein it exhibited significant inhibition against seven, moderate against two and no response against two strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) has also been determined for the volatile oil.