Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of the leaves of Ocotea caudata (Nees) Mez (Lauraceae) from Colombia

Ocotea is a genus that belong to Lauraceae family, which has about 56 species, distributed in Asia, Africa and mainly in America. The aim of this work was to identify the chemical composition of the essential oil from leaves of Ocotea caudata collected from Colombia. The chemical composition of the oil was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), being described for the first time. Thirty nine compounds (corresponding to 92.7% of the oil) were identified. The major constituents were germacrene D (55.8%), bicyclogermacrene (8.0%), β-caryophyllene (4.6%) and β-bourbonene (2.3%). Also the antibacterial activity of the oil was evaluated against two Gram (+) and two Gram (-) bacteria showing that the oil exhibited moderated activity against Gram (+) bacteria.