CONTRIBUTION STUDY TO THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE VOLATILE OIL IN THE LEAVES OF THYMUS VULGARIS L. AND DETERMINATION OF THE ANTI-BACTERIALL ACTIVITY AND ANTI-LEISHMANIAL VITALITY

MHD Isam Hasan Agha* and Ramah Baaj

ABSTRACT

Thymus spp. is widely distributed plant in Syria, where it is used for its antiseptic and decongestant properties. We conducted this study to extract the essential oil from this plant and to determine the main components of this oil in addition to determine its antibacterial and anti leishmania activity compared with the antibiotic ceftriaxone. The plant material Thymus vulgaris L. was obtained from the local market in Damascus, where the plant samples were dried (the moisture was 4%) and the volatile oil is extracted using Clevenger apparatus (water destillation), where 100 g of thyme leaves powder steam distiled with 500 ml water). The extracted volatile oil components were analyzed with GC/ FID. The results of the GC/FID showed that the most important ingredients in the volatile oil were carvacrole and thymole (73.1%, 7.2% respectively). Antibacterial activity of the volatile oil has been determined on isolates of pathogenic identified bacteria and against the vitality of leishmania strains prepared from public health laboratories and Hospital of Dermatology of Damascus University, where it was determnined the anti bacterial activity compared with ceftriaxone and also determined the anti leishmania vitality. In this study it was found that the volatile oil of Thymus vulgaris has high anti-bacterial properties, and it has been found to have effectiveness against anti leishmania vitality.

Keywords: Thymus vulgaris L., Volatile oil, anti bacteria, anti leishmania.