Determination of essential oil chemical composition extracted from Valencia orange peels (Citrus sinensis), and assessment of bio-activity against some micro-organisms

Abstract

Essential oil has been extracted from two samples of orange peels (Valencia varity) obtained from two areas which are different in environmental factors. The chemical composition of essential oils has been identified by GC-MS; where α-Limonene, β-Linalool and         β-Myrcene are the most compounds present in the two areas oil, and there is a slight difference in compounds ratio between the essential oil of the two areas, and showed low effectiveness in free radicals scavenging. Different concentrations of essential oils showed biological activity on some bacteria in concentrations (10-25-50 µl /4 ml): Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumonia, and on some fungi in concentrations (25-50-100 µl/100 ml): Penicillium citrinum, Aspergillus aculeatus, Cryptococcus sp. Yeast, some bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Alternaria alternata from fungi showed a resistance in those concentrations, but the essential oil was effective in vitro assay against Leishmania tropica with vitality about 42-49% at

185 µM in the MTT test.