The component composition of the Achillea. nobilis essential oil, which grows in Azerbaijan, was studied for the first time by the gas-chromato-mass spectrometry method. In the essential oil, 35 components are identified, of which the predominant are artemisia ketone (23.706%), thujone 22.400%), 2-bornanone (6,367%), eudesm-7(11)-en-4-ol (6.321%), eucalyptol (4.507%), cubenol (3.317%), lavandulol (2.975%), β-thujone (2.933%), β-eudesmol (2.702%), methyl hinokiate (2.108%), terpinen-4-ol (1.715%), 1,2-longidione (1.313%), limonene-6-ol, pivalate (1.188%), neryl (S)-2-methylbutanoate (1.120%), caryophyllene oxide (1.014%).
The effect of A. nobilis essential oil on the ultrastructural organization of bacteria (S. aureus) was studied using transmission electron microscopy. It was revealed that under the influence of essential oil, a violation of the plasma permeability of the plasma membrane is observed, accompanied by diffusion of the fine-grained osmiophilic precipitate of the destroyed cytoplasmic structures, which leads to the loss of the layered structure of the wall elements and to a significant compaction of the matrix in comparison with the control preparations. The death of bacterial cells was observed with complete destruction of the integrity of all structures that make up their wall. Along with this, on ultrathin sections, focal accumulations of dead bacterial cells are found, surrounded by structurally changed elements of their walls. The remains of destructively altered fragments of CP are found on various parts of unseparated bacterial cells. All of the above shows that the essential oil of A. nobilis has a pronounced antibacterial activity.
