Radical scavenging and antimicrobial activities ofCroton zehntneri,Pterodon emarginatusandSchinopsis brasiliensisessential oils and their major constituents: estragole,trans-anethole, β-caryophyllene and myrcene

Abstract

The essential oils (EOs) from the Brazilian species Croton zehntneri, Pterodon emarginatus and Schinopsis brasiliensis were examined for their chemical constituents, and antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The composition of EOs was determined by using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry analysis, while the antioxidant activity was evaluated through the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity was investigated against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (both Gram-negative), Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Candida parapsilosis (fungus). The main components of C. zehntneri, P. emarginatus and S. brasiliensis were identified as estragole, trans-anethole, β-caryophyllene and myrcene. Among the EOs, P. emarginatus showed the highest antioxidant activity, with an IC50 of 7.36 mg/mL and a Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity of 3748 μmol/g determined by DPPH and ORAC assays, respectively. All EOs showed low activities against the bacterial strains tested, whereas the C. zehntneri oil and its main constituent estragole exhibited an appreciable antifungal activity against C. parapsilosis.

Antifungal activity of essential oils extracted from Agastache mexicana ssp. xolocotziana and Porophyllum linaria against post-harvest pathogens

“…In the case of methyl eugenol, it has been also identified as a major component in the essential oils of other plants, such as Piper divaricatum (Da Silva et al, 2010), Croton nepetaefoilus (Fontenelle et al, 2008), Laurus nobilis (Marzouki et al, 2009), and Artemisia dracunculus (Meepagala et al, 2002). Estragole has also been reported as a major compound in extracts of various Croton species (Donati et al, 2014;Fontenelle et al, 2008), Foeniculum vulgare (Özcan et al, 2006), and Agastache rugosa (Shin, 2004).…”

Development of a rapid and simple HPLC-UV method for determination of gallic acid in Schinopsis brasiliensis

“…New alkylphenol methyl 6-eicosanoyl-2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzoate and steroid 5␣,8␣-epidioxy ergosta-6,22-dien-3␤-ol are both compounds isolated from the bark of S. brasiliensis (Cardoso et al, 2005). The essential oil extracted from the leaves of S. brasiliensis has a good amount of myrcene and low amounts of other compounds such as ␤-caryophyllene, eucalyptol and guaiol (Donati et al, 2014).…”

Biological screening of extracts from leaf and stem bark of Croton floribundus Spreng. (Euphorbiaceae)

“…This is the first report of the antioxidant activity of C. floribundus. Other species of Croton have been related to possessing an antioxidant activity (Aderogba et al, 2011;Donati et al, 2015;Shahwar et al, 2015). The popular use of these Croton species is enhanced by the verification of its antioxidant action (Morais et al, 2006).…”

“…Croton species are also rich in active alkaloids (Queiroz et al, Cordeiro et al, 2016). Furthermore, various species of the genus are aromatic, indicating the presence of volatile oil constituents (Santos et al, 2014;Donati et al, 2015). In recent reviews on the medicinal use, chemistry and pharmacology of this species, it is evident the potential of this genus (Gupta et al, 2008;Bailon-Moscoso et al, 2015).…”