Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of three essential oils from south of Morocco. (Thymus satureoides,Thymus vulgaris and Chamaelum nobilis)

The chemical composition of the essential oils from three moroccan medicinal plants; thymus satureoides,thymus vulgaris and chamaelum nobilis was determined,as well as the determination of its antibacterial activity. the essential oils were identified by (gc and gc/ms). in essential oils of thymus vulgaris and thymus satureoides,carvacrol is preponderant (78.4% and 49.3% respectively) but in chamaelum nobilis,2-undecanone is dominated by 24.7%. results demonstrated that the essential oils of the two thymus species (thymus satureoides and thymus vulgaris) showed an excellent inhibitory effect against the bacteria tested. in addition,gram+ bacteria (mic: 2.5-5 μl/ml) are more sensitive than gram-bacteria (mic: 5-20 μl/ml). these data would indicate the potential usefulness of the two thymus species as antibacterial activity. the present study confirmed the antibacterial activity against four bacteria tested whose the problem relates to the emergence of strains that possess multiple resistances to a range of antibiotics. thus,these results indicate that the essential oils represent a potential source of natural antibacterial substances that may be used against pathogenic systems.