Abstract The present study was carried out to characterize the constituents of Acacia polycantha seed oil and to assess its antimicrobial activity. Thirty two components were detected by GC-MS analysis being dominated by: 9,12-octadecadienoic acid methyl ester (27.95%), methyl stearate (17.13%), hexadecanoic acid methyl ester (13.30%), 9-octadecanoic acid(Z) methyl ester (9.57%). 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 moderate activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. However, it failed to exhibit activity against other test organisms.
Keywords Acacia polyacantha, Oil, GC-MS, Antimicrobial activity.