Chemical compounds and antibacterial and antioxidant properties of citron (Citrus medica L.) peel essential oil

In this research, essential oil of citron peel was extracted through water distillation by clevenger apparatus and then its chemical composition and antibacterial and antioxidant properties were evaluated. GC-MS analysis showed the major identified components of the essential oil included limonene (33.60%), myristicin (24.36%), carvacrol (8.1%), apiol (5.34%), β-bisabolene (4.40%) and α-bergamotene (2.67%). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were respectively determined as 62.5, 250, 125 and 500 µg/ml, respectively. The total phenol content of the essential oil was 6.0 ± 0.03 mg gallic acid/g sample. The scavenging activity of DPPH radicals based on IC50 was 19.587 ± 0.011 µg/ml. This result indicated less performance in comparison with BHT, gallic acid and ascorbic acid. Also, although the total flavonoids content of citron fruit extract was 3.4 mg quercetin/g sample, no flavonoid compound was detected in the essential oil.