Chemical Variability and Antibacterial Activity of Eucalyptus camaldulensis Essential Oils from Senegal

1,8-cineole, also known as eucalyptol, is the main constituent and the most important of the leaf oils of many species of the genus Eucalyptus. In present study, the essential oils isolated by hydrodistillation from the leaves of Eucalyptus camaldulensis from six different locations were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Essential oil yields ranged from 0.33% to 4.35%. In total, 34 constituents were identified, accounting for 94.0% to 99.8% of the total compositions. 1,8-cineole (46.4% - 84.4%) was the main constituent of all the essential oil samples, except for one sample collected in the Fatick region, which had p-cymene (46.4%) and 1,8-cineole (26.0%) as major compounds. The essential oil showed excellent activity against S. aureus, E. coli and E. faecalis (IZ = 25.3 ± 1.2 mm; 18.7 ± 0.6 mm; 17.8 ± 0.3 mm, respectively) and moderate activity against P. aeruginosa (IZ = 10.8 ± 0.8 mm). They may have potential applications in food and pharmaceutical products.