Abstract The present study was carried out to characterize the constituents of Acacia nubica seed oil and to assess the antimicrobial activity.
Twenty five components were detected by GC-MS analysis being dominated by: 9,12-octadecanoic acid methyl ester (31.54%); 9-octadecanoic acid methyl ester(15.86%); hexadecanoic acid methyl ester (15.50%); methyl stearate (13.92%) and 9-octadecanoic acid methyl ester (12.11%).
The antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated using the diffusion assay against: Gram positive: Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis; Gram negative: Escherichia coli and Pseudomonasa aeruginosa and the yeast Candida albicans. The oil showed significant activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and moderate inhibitory effect against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, it failed to exhibit anticandidal properties.
Keywords Acacia nubica, Oil, GC-MS, Antimicrobial activity.