Characterization of essential oils of some Salvia species and their antimycobacterial activities

The compositions of the essential oils of 5 Turkish Salvia species, namely Salvia aucheri Bentham var. aucheri(endemic for Turkey), Salvia aramiensis Rech. fil., Salvia fruticosa Mill., Salvia tomentosaMill., and Salvia verticillata L.subsp. amasiaca (Freyn Bornm.) Bornm., were studied.Water distilled essential oils from the aerial parts of Salvia species from Turkey were analysed by GC and GC/MS. Salviaaucheri var. aucheri, Salvia aramiensis, and Salvia fruticosa oils have the same main constituent: 1,8-cineole (39.2%, 55.6%,and 52.8% respectively). α-Pinene (25.1%), camphor (14.9%), and borneol (13.2%) were identified as the major componentsof Salvia tomentosa. The main constituents, α-pinene (21.4%) and 1,8-cineole (16.1%), were also the major constituents inthe oil of Salvia verticillata subsp. amasiaca.S. verticillata subsp. amasiaca, S. aucheri subsp. Aucheri, and S. tomentosa showed activity (MIC 196 (mu)g/mL), while S.aramiensis and S. fruticosa did not. This is the first study of the antimycobacterial activity of these 5 plants.