Composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of the leaves of black currant (Ribes nigrum L.) cultivar Čačanska crna

The essential oil from the leaves of the Serbian black currant cultivar Čačanska crna, obtained by hydrodistillation, was analyzed by gas chromato¬graphy-flame ionization detection and GC–mass spectrometry. The most abundant volatile compounds were D3-carene (18.7 %), b-caryophyllene (17.7 %), sabinene (11.6 %), cis-b-ocimene (10.6 %) and a-terpinolene (10.6 %). The antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated against 14 micro-organisms, including two clinical isolated strains, using the broth microdilution method. The most susceptible micro-organisms were Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Trichophyton mentagrophytes isolates. Furthermore, the flavonol aglycones in the leaves after acid hydrolysis were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed by HPLC, and quercetin was found to be the dominant compound (84 mg/g dw)