Extraction of essential oil from patchouli and testing its antibacterial activity

Abstract

The present investigation was evaluated the yield and the potential antibacterial activity of patchouli oil extracted from different methods. Extraction of patchouli oil was carried out by three different methods (water distillation, soxhlet extraction and ultrasonic-assisted solvent extraction). Water distillation method produced the highest yield of essential oil (3.22±0.05%) meanwhile the oil yields of soxhlet extraction and ultrasonic-assisted solvent extraction methods

were respectively 2.92±0.11% and 2.72±0.08% that were significantly lower than the yield produced in hydro-distillation. Antibacterial effect of patchouli oil was tested on two strains of bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram negative) by agar diffusion technique. MICs of the patchouli oil were appointed by two-fold dilution method. However, only Staphylococcus was killed by this biocide at 100 µg/ml MIC value while E. coli did not form any inhibition zone. This is miscorrelate with previous researches which proved that patchouli is a strong potential antimicrobial. In terms of variation in such antimicrobial activities was due to the change in compositions of patchouli oil that belongs to natural soil or climate zone.

Keyword: antimicrobial activity, patchouli oil, solvent extraction, water distillation.