Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil and CO2 extracts of semi-oriental tobacco, Otlja

The chemical composition of essential oil and CO2 extracts of the middle an d upper leaf positions of the semi-oriental tobacco, Otlja were studied by GC and GC-MS. The major constituents were: in the essential oil. neophytadi ene and solanone; in the CO2 extracts, neophytadiene and nonacosane. The an timicrobial activity of essential oil and CO2 extracts were investigated ag ainst the microorganisms Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudo monas aeruginosa. It was found that the oil of the upper leaves showed grea ter activity than that of the middle leaves. Both leaf oils showed greater activity than CO2 extracts. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons. Ltd.