Copyright (c) 2026 I Wayan Mudianta, Rini Retnosari, I Wayan Karyasa, Riri Jonuarti
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Chemical Composition, Enantiomeric Distribution and Antibacterial Activity of Kernel, Mace and Pericarp Essential Oils of Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) from Bali, Indonesia
Corresponding Author(s) : I.W. Mudianta
Asian Journal of Chemistry,
Vol. 38 No. 10 (2026): Vol 38, Issue 10, 2026
Abstract
Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt) is a significant spice commodity employed in the culinary, medicinal and cosmetic industries. This study reports the isolation, comparative analysis of metabolites and enantiomeric distributions of essential oils from the kernel, mace and pericarp of nutmeg sourced from Bali, Indonesia. Mace essential oil contains the largest proportion of hydrocarbon monoterpenes at 88.22%, in contrast to kernel essential oil at 59.58% and pericarp essential oil at 64.66%. Moreover, nutmeg pericarp exhibited a high concentration of myristicin (14.93%) and oxygenated monoterpene (15.55%). Seven enantiomers were found from all three nutmeg essential oils, including α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, terpinen-4-ol and α-phellandrene. Furthermore, pericarp essential oil exhibited a significant zone of inhibition in an antibacterial disc diffusion assay against S. aureus and E. coli. The oil demonstrated only moderate antibacterial activity, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 125 mg/L for pericarp essential oil. To our knowledge, this study is among the first to characterize the chemical composition and enantiomeric distribution of all three nutmeg components and assess the potential of nutmeg pericarp, an under-utilized agricultural residue, as a source of high-quality essential oil.
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V. Kuete, Planta Med., 76, 1479 (2010); https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0030-1250027
