The Evaluation of the Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activity of Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) Essential Oil and Its Chemical Composition

Background: food born pathogenic bacteria are the most important agents of infections in humans, and food spoilage also results in economic losses in food industry.objectives: the aim of this study was the evaluation of chemical components, total phenolic content, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of artemisia dracunculus essential oil.materials and methods: the essential oil of tarragon was analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (gc-fid) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (gc-ms). the antioxidant activity and total phenolic content were evaluated by bleaching of b-carotene and folin ciocalteu methods, respectively. the antibacterial effect of the essential oil was inspected on seven gram- positive and negative bacteria using the microdilution method.results: a total of 19 compounds were identified by gc-fid and gc-ms. the main compounds were methyl chavicol (84.83%), trans-ocimene (3.86%), z-b-ocimene (3.42%), limonene (1.79%) and ?-pinene (0.57%). total phenols were 10.16 ± 0.08 mg/g gallic acid equivalent. the essential oil showed good antioxidant activity in bleaching of b-carotene method (50 ± 1.63%). the minimum inhibitory concentrations (mic) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (mbc) for essential oil ranged between 3.8 to 250 mg/ml, respectively.conclusions: the essential oil of tarragon might be replaced by synthetic antioxidant and preservatives in food industry.