Chemical Constitution, In-silico Molecular Docking Studies and Antibacterial Activity of Flower Essential Oil of Artabotrys hexapetalus

Abstract

The isolation of the volatile constituents from the flowers of Artabotrys hexapetalus was carried out using a simple headspace solvent-trapping technique and identified by GC-MS analysis. The major compounds are ethyl acetate 53.6%, isobutyl acetate (29.4%) and ethyl benzoate (14.2%). The odour of the solution obtained from this method was found to be similar to that of the fresh flowers. Further the essential oil from A. hexapetalus was obtained for the first time from India by hydro distillation using a Clevenger type apparatus and analysed by GC-MS. The plant yielded 1.26%, of the essential oils from the flower. The analysis lead to the identification of 28 compounds representing 96.17% of the total oil. The essential oil consists of predominantly oxygenated sesquiterpenes (51.91%) followed by sesquiterpenes (43.31%) and small quantities of monoterpenes (1.24%) and other compounds (1.34%). The main constituents of the essential oil obtained from the flowers of A.hexapetalus are β-caryophyllene (18.69%), caryophyllene oxide (14.54%), cubenol (12.53%) and ledol (11.5%). The essential oil showed antibacterial activity against bacterial strains Streptococcus pneumonia, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibiting a zone of inhibition of 16.4, 15.7, 17.5 and 14.5 mm and MIC value of 2.5, 5.0, 2.5, 5.0 mg/ml respectively. Molecular docking analysis indicated that the essential oil constituents are nucleic acid and cell wall synthesis inhibitors. So it is worth to include this in cosmetics and fragrances.