Chemical composition of the essential oil from Algerian Genista quadriflora Munby and determination of its antibacterial and antifungal activities

Abstract

The hydrodistilled oil of the aerial parts from Genista quadriflora growing in Algeria was analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC/FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Altogether 222 volatile substances, representing around 77% of the essential oil was identified. The major constituents were the sesquiterpenes muurolan-4,7-peroxide (19.42%), amorpha-4,9-dien-2-ol (10.40%), α-cadinol (2.29%), caryophyllene oxide (1.47%) and germacra-4(15),5,10(14)-trien-1-α-ol (1.39%). Fatty acids were the second most abundant compounds of the essential oil detected with dodecanoic acid (lauric) (3.14%), hexadecanoic acid (palmitic) (2.49%) and tetradecanoic acid (myristic) (1.12%) as main components. The volatile oil was screened in vitro for antibacterial and antifungal activities using dilution and disc diffusion methods. Thus, the crude essential oil exhibited a marked antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporun and a significant inhibition activity was registered towards a Gram-negative bacterium Proteus mirabilis. Substantial antibacterial activity was also recorded against Gram-positive bacteria with MIC: 0.9±0.1 and 1.7±0.3mg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus suggesting the possibility to use of G. quadriflora essential oil in the development of new drugs for treatment of infectious diseases.