Essential oil composition of leaves of Stachys yemenensis obtained by supercritical CO2

This article reports the composition of the essential oil from the leaves of Stachys yemenensis. The essential oil was extracted by supercritical CO2 (90 bar; 40 degrees C) and its chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The major components of the sample were -phellandrene (13.9%), -phellandrene (11.7%), elemol (12.0%), spathulenol (6.7%), -eudesmol (5.0%), -eudesmol (4.75%) and squalene (4.8%). On the exhausted matrix, deprived of the volatiles, we carried out a high-pressure (250 bar) treatment for the extraction of squalene (49.7%). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils has been assayed by using the broth dilution method on two American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) strains, Escherichia coli ATCC 35218 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 43300, and two clinical strains, Candida albicans and Candida glabrata.