Antimicrobial Activities of Volatile Essential Oils from Korean Aromatic Plants

Volatile essential oils obtained by steam distillation from 55 plant parts of 42 species of representative aromatic plants newly collected in Korean peninsula have been evaluated for antimicrobial activity against 5 microorganisms. The essential oils derived from 15 plant parts and 9 plant parts were found to exhibit very strong antimicrobial activities by more than 95% inhibition at 100 ${\mu}g/ml$ against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively. Essential oil components such as l-limonene, ${\beta}-myrcene$, linalool, ${\gamma}-terpinene$, ${\alpha},{\beta}-phellandrene$, 1,8-cineole, l-borneol and bornylacetate, as a whole, have primarily contributed to the manifestation of the antimicrobial activity.