essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation from iranian carum copticum was characterized by means of gc-ms. in the case of c. copticum, ten compounds were identified representing the 94.1 % of the total oil with a yield of 0.91 % w/w. the major constituents of the oil were described as p-cymene (11.03 %), -terpinene (20.0 %) and thymol (45.6 %). the essential oil was also subjected to antimicrobial, antioxidant and antiinflammatory activities. the essential oil was particularly active against candida parapsilosis, with the lowest mic and mbc value (1.5+/-0.11 and 1.5+/-0.10 mg/ml). furthermore, the essential oil and its main compounds showed a potent no scavenging effect and inhibited inducible no synthase expression. these results support the use of the essential oil and its main compounds for their anti-inflammatory properties and antimicrobial activity.