The essential oil of Acorus calamus L. (Araceae) was analyzed by GC and GC-MS while the major compound was confirmed by NMR spectroscopy. The oil was found to be rich in phenylpropanoids which contribute over 82 % of the total oil. The major compounds identified were Z-β-asarone (74.8 %) and E-β-asarone (5.6 %) besides other mono and sesquiterpenoids. The in vitro antibacterial activity of essential oil and the isolated β-asarone were individually tested against pathogenic bacteria including three gram negative bacteria viz. Pasteurella multicoda, Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica and one gram positive bacteria viz. Staphylococcus aureus. Both the oil and β-asarone showed in vitro antibacterial activity. The plant A.calamus containing β-asarone has been found to have tranquillizing and antibiotic activity, but is also potentially toxic and carcinogenic. The object of the present study on the composition of essential oil of A. calamus was to check the chemotypes devoiding of β-asarone or contain very little amount of it as reported in European A. calamus.
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Joshi et al. (2012) studied this question.
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