Variability of Chemical Compositions and Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities ofRuta chalepensisLeaf Essential Oils from Three Palestinian Regions

Introduction. Interest in essential oils was recently revived with their popularity increasing in medicine, pharmacy, and aromatherapy. This study was performed to identify the chemical compositions of the essential oil ofRuta chalepensisgrowing wildly in three regions in Palestine and to assess and compare their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities.Methods. Identification of the essential oil was performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Antimicrobial activity was tested againstStaphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coli,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureus, andCandida albicansby using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay, while antioxidant activity was analyzed by using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method.Results. The essential oils ofR. chalepensisfrom Jerusalem and Hebron regions have almost identical components; the major compounds identified were linalyl acetate andβ-linalool; these essential oils exerted potential antioxidant and antibacterial activities. On the other hand, the major components of the plant essential oil from Jenin region were 2-undecanone and 2-nonanone, which exhibited potential antifungal activity.Conclusions. The phytoconstituents and antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the essential oil ofR. chalepensisfrom different regions in Palestine were established in this study. The obtained results indicate possible applications forR. chalepensisin the treatment of various infectious and noninfectious diseases.