The use of medicinal plants in the treatment of illnesses is a practice that has always been used and widely spread in Mozambique. Essential oils are complex mixtures of secondary metabolites isolated from different parts of plants.

Due to the increased use of these aromatic compounds, research has been carried out resulting in the development of new products. Considering the common use of aromatic plants, we conducted this study with the aim of evaluating the antimicrobial activity and chemical composition of essential oils from dried leaves of the species Cymbopogom citratus, Lantana camara, Lippia javanica, Ocimum americanum, Ocimum basilicum and Plectranthus sp.

, a group of plants widely used in folk medicine in the Montepuez district. The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger apparatus.

The essential oils that were active against the three microorganisms used were Cymbopogom citratus, Lippia javanica, Ocimum americanum and Ocimum basilicum. The classes of secondary metabolites were detected using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

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