The chemical composition and biological activity of clove essential oil, Eugenia caryophyllata (Syzigium aromaticum L. Myrtaceae): a short review

Abstract

The essential oil extracted from the dried flower buds of clove, Eugenia caryophyllata L. Merr. & Perry (Myrtaceae), is used as a topical application to relieve pain and to promote healing and also finds use in the fragrance and flavouring industries. The main constituents of the essential oil are phenylpropanoids such as carvacrol, thymol, eugenol and cinnamaldehyde. The biological activity of Eugenia caryophyllata has been investigated on several microorganisms and parasites, including pathogenic bacteria, Herpes simplex and hepatitis C viruses. In addition to its antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal and antiviral activity, clove essential oil possesses antiinflammatory, cytotoxic, insect repellent and anaesthetic properties. This short review addresses the chemical composition and biological effects of clove essential oil, and includes new results from GC/MS analysis and a study of its antimicrobial activity against a large number of multi-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from dialysis biomaterials.

Evidence that androstadienone, a putative human chemosignal, modulates women’s attributions of men’s attractiveness

“…An alternative design, which could solve this shortcoming, would be to apply the odor stimuli to the men, rather than to the women; and to use sub-threshold concentrations without the clove oil admixture. Although the use of clove oil as a masking odor allows for comparison with previous literature, its usage has been criticised on the basis that the experimental solution then constitutes a complex mixture (Lundström et al, 2003a), and also that it has a number of biological effects including anesthesia (Chaieb et al, 2007). Related to these problems, it is as yet unclear whether androstadienone can be expected to have any effect in naturalistic settings other than in very intimate dyadic encounters, or if it does, how a man might solve the problem of influencing a woman's response to him without influencing her response to all other men in the vicinity.…”

Essential oils found in the smoke of "tira-capeta", a cigarette used by some quilombolas living in pantanal wetlands of Brazil

“…Clove bud oils showed antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties, and had been used traditionally as flavoring agent and antimicrobial material in food (Velluti et al, 2003). The main constituents of its essential oil are phenylpropanoids such as carvacrol, thymol, eugenol and cinnamaldehyde (Chaieb et al, 2007), followed by β-caryophyllene, α-humulene, and eugenyl acetate (Park & Shin, 2005;Jirovetz et al, 2006).…”

Use of essential oils and extracts from spices in meat protection

“…The main compound of the cumin essential oil is cuminaldehyde (Jayathilakan et al 2007;Rasooli et al 2007). Clove (Eugenia caryohyllata) presents antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli y Staphylococcus aureus (Chaieb et al 2007). The main compound of the clove essential oil is eugenol (88.58%) and β-caryophyllene in lesser amounts; however, up to 36 different compounds have been determined (Burt and Reinders 2003;Jayathilakan et al 2007;Perrucci et al 2007).…”