Eucalyptus cinerea is used as an ornamental plant and shows good concentration of essential oil. The aim of this work is a chemical investigation and analysis of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Eucalyptus cinerea collected at different time's interval. This oil was obtained by hydrodestilation in a Clevenger apparatus, the chemical ivestigation was perfoomed by GC/MS and the antimicrobial activity was assayed in vitro using the agar diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Escherichia coli ATCC 8.739, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12.228, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9.027 and Candida albicans ATCC 10.231. The yield of the essential oil was 6.07 % (v/w) collected in the first hour of hidrodestilation. It was also observed a higher concentration of 1,8-cineole in the fraction collected in a quarter of hour and and one hour. The main components investigated in the essential oils by GC/MS were: 1,8-cineole, a-pineno, limoneno and a-terpineol. The antimicrobial study using agar diffusion method showed antimicrobial activity of the essential oil against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and yeast.
Eucalytpus cinerea; essential oil; antimicrobial activity; chemical investigation
