Determination of Volatile Components Extracted via Hydro and Microwave-Assisted Distillation of Thamnobryum alopecurum (Hedw.) Gangulee Grown in Turkey and Comparison of Their Antimicrobial Activities

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the chemical analysis and antimicrobial effects of the Thamnobryum alopecurum (Hedw.) Gangulee essential oils were obtained by different distillation methods (Clevenger apparatus hydrodistillation (HD) and microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MD)). In this study obtained volatile oils were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry which revealed the presence of forty-five compounds present in the essential oil obtained by HD method representing 99.48 % of the total identified compounds and thirty-four compounds were identified in the essential oil extracted by MD method representing 95.39 % of the total identified compounds. 3-octanone was the major constituent of the essential oils extracted by both HD (14.28 %) and MD (20.07 %). Terpenes were the major constituents in the essential oil extra-cted by both methods (54.41 % in HD and 52.21 % in MD) followed by oxygenated terpenoids (17.16 % in HD and 14.94 % in MD). The other major compounds of the essential oil in HD was limonene (9.65 %) followed by β-pinene (9.13 %), cuparene (6.04 %), gymnomitrone (5.72 %) and 4-epi-abietal (5.59 %). While in MD essential oil the other major compounds were β-pinene (12.20 %) followed by limonene (8.56 %), α-pinene (9.01 %), cupa-rene (6.44 %), abietadiene (5.97 %). The antimicrobial effects of the essential oils were determined tested quantitatively in respective broth media by using double microdilution and the minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) values (μg/mL). The isolated essential oils of T. alopecurum showed effective antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus cereus, Mycobacterium smegmatis and Candida albicans. However, no activity was not observed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The hydrodistillation method was found to be more effective than the microwave method in iden-tifying the chemical composition of the structure of T. alopecurum essential oil. While for antimicrobial study MD method was found to be more effective in terms of antimicrobial effect. The T. alopecurum thus is a potential source of an antimicrobial agent with a wide range of chemical compounds that could be responsible for their activity.