Chemical and Biological Evolution of Essential Oil of Arum maculatum

Arum maculatum (Kardeh) is a well known aromatic and medicinal plant, which is widely used as food and soup in the south of Iran. Composition and antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of essential oil of A. maculatum were determined. The essential oil of A. maculatum was obtained by hydrodistillation method in room temperature and was analyzed by GC–MS. The major identified components were Palmitic acid (23.31 %), Phytol (13.02 %), Methyl 9,12,15-octadecatrienoate (10.34 %) and Methyl linolenate (8.64 %). Then antimicrobial activity of extracted essential oils from A. maculatum was conducted by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The plant showed a moderate antimicrobial activity against tested microorganisms. Best activities can be seen against Staphylococcus aureus with MIC = 32 mg/ml, Staphylococcus epidermidis with MIC = 4 mg/ml and Escherichia coli with MIC = 4 mg/ml. The antioxidant activities of the essential oils of A. maculatum were also evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assays. IC50 values in the DPPH assay were reported: 24.86 ± 21.4 mg/ml.