Chemical Composition, Antimicrobial andAntioxidant Activity of Birch (Betula pendula Roth.) Buds Essential Oil

The essential oil from birch (Betula pendula Roth.) buds was obtained by Clevenger-type hydrodistillation. Its qualitative and quantitative composition was determined by gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and flame ionization detection (GC/FID), respectively. Twenty-seven compounds, mainly sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (78.7%) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (14.8%), were identified comprising 93.5% of total identified components in the essential oil. The most abundant compounds were germacrene D (21.7%) and -cadinene (17.0%). Antimicrobial activity of isolated essential oil against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as fungus Candida albicans was determined using the disc-diffusion method. The isolated essential oil has shown antimicrobial activity against the following microorganisms: Proteus vulgaris, Bacillus luteus and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antioxidative activity of the essential oil was determined using the DPPH assay, after adding DPPH radical and after 20min, 30min and 60min incubation with radical. Essential oil showed antioxidant activity