Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of the Volatile Fractions from Leaves and Flowers of the Wild Iraqi Kurdish Plant Prangos peucedanifolia Fenzl

The volatile fractions isolated from Prangos peucedanifolia Fenzl leaves and flowers were investigated for their phytochemical composition and biological properties. Flower and leaf hydrodistillation afforded 3.14 and 0.49 g of yellowish oils in 1.25 and 0.41% yields, respectively, from dry vegetable materials. According to the GC‐FID and GC/MS analyses, 36 (99.35% of the total oil composition) and 26 compounds (89.12%) were identified in the two oils, respectively. The major constituents in the flower volatile fraction were β‐pinene (35.58%), α‐pinene (22.13%), and β‐phellandrene (12.54%), while m‐cresol (50.38%) was the main constituent of the leaf volatile fraction. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated against several bacterial and fungal strains, on the basis of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by the micro‐ and macrodilution methods. The two volatile fractions showed moderate antifungal and antibacterial activities, especially against Trichophyton rubrum (MIC of 2×10³ μg/ml), Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus (MIC≤1.9×10³ μg/ml for all).