| Summary: | Flowers (1000g) of Ocimum canum harvested at different time (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm) in a day were separately hydrodistilled and yielded 0.19 - 0.27% (w/w) of essential oils. GC, GC-MS analyses revealed that the oils were predominated by oxygenated monoterpenoids (51.2-74.4%). Hydrocarbon monoterpenoids constituted 6.2-10.2% of the oils. Percentage composition of hydrocarbon and oxygenated sesquiterpenoids in the oils were in the range of 1.3-22.0%. The most abundant constituent of the oils was linalool (40.5-58.7%). Other principal constituents were; limonene (0.6 –7.5%), terpinen-4-ol (1.4–5.6%), eugenol (4.4–8.9%), geranyl acetate (0.2–4.9%), α-trans-bergamotene (3.2–9.4%) and E-isoeugenol (4.1–5.5%). The predominance of linalool in the oils showed that the oils were of linalool chemotype. Antibacterial activity of the oils was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli using agar diffusion method. Irrespective of the time of collection of the flower, the oils were found to be active against the tested organisms. However, they are more active on Escherichia coli than Staphylococcus aureus. The activity of the oils on the organisms was concentration dependent.
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