Abstract:Objective To study the antimicrobial activities of cinnamon essential oil, laurel essential oil and tea tree essential oil so as to provide experimental evidence for the development of plant-derived antimicrobial substances. Methods The antimicrobial activities of cinnamon essential oil, laurel essential oil and tea tree essential oil on common pathogenic bacteria were tested by disk diffusion method. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) of cinnamon essential oil and laurel essential oil were detected by tube serial dilution method, and the thermal stability of antibacterial activities of cinnamon essential oil and laurel essential oil was also studied. Results Tea tree essential oil had weak inhibitory effect on the tested strains, while the essential oils of cinnamon and laurel had obvious antibacterial activities against these bacteria, and the antibacterial activities of these two essential oils also had good thermal stability. MIC and MBC tests showed that the MIC and MBC of laurel essential oil were 1.56-25.00 μg/ml and 3.12-50.00 μg/ml respectively for this research, while the MIC and MBC of cinnamon essential oil were 1.56-12.50 μg/ml and 6.25-50.00 μg/ml respectively. Conclusions Cinnamon essential oil and laurel essential oil have obvious antibacterial activities against the common clinical pathogenic bacteria, and their thermal stability is very good.