Abstract
The essential oil of citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) has several biological activities, among them the insect repellent action. Some studies showed that cinnamic acid esters can be applied as natural pesticides, insecticides and fungicides. In this context, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the production of esters from citronella essential oil with cinnamic acid via enzymatic esterification. Besides, the essential oil toxicity before and after esterification against Artemia salina and larvicidal action on Aedes aegypti was investigated. Esters were produced using cinnamic acid as the acylating agent and citronella essential oil (3:1) in heptane and 15 wt% NS 88011 enzyme as biocatalysts, at 70 °C and 150 rpm. Conversion rates of citronellyl and geranyl cinnamates were 58.7 and 69.0% for NS 88011, respectively. For the toxicity to Artemia salina LC50 results of 5.29 μg mL-1 were obtained for the essential oil and 4.36 μg mL-1 for the esterified oils obtained with NS 88011. In the insecticidal activity against Aedes aegypti larvae, was obtained LC50 of 111.84 μg mL-1 for the essential oil of citronella and 86.30 μg mL-1 for the esterified oils obtained with the enzyme NS 88011, indicating high toxicity of the esters. The results demonstrated that the evaluated samples present potential of application as bioinsecticide.
Highlights
Citronella, Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt (Poaceae), is a perennial plant, very resistant to climate change
Cansian et al (2017) observed an increase in toxicity on Artemia salina after enzymatic esterification of clove essential oil (Caryophyllus aromaticus L.), proposing that esterification may be a way to potentiate the insecticidal activity of essential oils
The preliminary kinetic results of citronellyl and geranyl cinnamates are presented in Figure 1, and indicates that the optimum reaction time at the evaluated experimental conditions was 52 hours
Summary
Citronella, Cymbopogon winterianus Jowitt (Poaceae), is a perennial plant, very resistant to climate change. The essential oil from this plant or their compounds can be applied in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, and is a product widely used as a mosquito repellent and plant defense mechanism Paroul et al (2012) in a study of bioflavors production by enzymatic esterification of citronella essential oil in a solvent free system, comparing two different acids (oleic and propionic acids), observed that the technique used is promising due to the high ester conversions achieved. In the assay using propionic acid the yield was 92.95% citronellyl propionate and 96.51% geranyl propionate under the same conditions described for oleic acid
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