Basil essential oil contains linalool compounds that capable of inhibiting
the growth of Staphylococcus aureus. Essential oil is formulated in order to
facilitate ointment application on the skin and prevent evaporation. This study was
conducted to determine the physical properties, antibacterial activity and stability
of basil essential oil ointment after 3 months storage.
Basil essential oil was used as active compounds with concentration of
12.5%. Ointment with varying concentration of PEG 4000 : PEG 400 with ratio of
40%: 60% (F1), 30% : 70% w/v (F2), 20% : 80% (F3), and 10% : 90% (F4) were
made. Ointment stability tests were conducted over 3 months includes
organoleptic, pH, viscosity, spreadibility, adhesion, globules size, and freeze thaw
for 6 cycles. Antibacterial activity test was conducted using well diffusion agar
method. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis.
The results showed that the decrease of PEG 4000 and increase of PEG
400 decreased viscosity and adhesion, increased the spread but ointments pH
were stable. Ointments that were storaged for 3 months have stable pH, lower
adhesion and viscosity, but higher spreadibility than that of before storage. In the
freeze thaw test, only F4 was unstable. Antibacterial activity of ointment against
Staphylococcus aureus showed that ointment have greater inhibitory zones than
the base, average ointment inhibitory zone is 21.49 mm
