Planta Med 2008; 74 - PI51
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1084959

Antimicrobial activity of Santolina chamaecyparissus L. volatile oil

S Djeddi 1, 2, K Djebil 3, G Hadjbourega 3, Z Achour 4, C Argyropoulou 1, H Skaltsa 1
  • 1Department of Pharmacognosy & Chemistry of Natural Products, School of Pharmacy, Panepistimiopolis-Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
  • 2Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Environment, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Badji Mokhtar University, 12 Annaba, Algeria
  • 3Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Department of Biology, Blida University, 9000 Algeria
  • 4Researche and Development Center, SAIDAL, Algeria

In continuation of our phytochemical investigations of the Algerian flora [1,2], we studied Santolina chamaecyparissus L. a common species in the North regions of Algeria and Tunisia [3]. The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition of the essential oil of Santolina chamaecyparissus from Algeria and to evaluate its potential antimicrobial activity using the agar diffusion disc method against the following Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027), Escherichia coli (ATCC 4157), Klebsiella pneumonia (ATCC 4352), well as Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538), Staphylococcus epidermis (ATCC 1228) and the fungi Candida albicans (ATCC 2601) [4]. The identification has been carried out by GC and GC-MS. The essential oil consisted of a complex mixture of 36 different substances, among them camphor (31.1%) and cubenol (17.0%) were the main compounds. The shapes of the kinetic curves of essential oil's extraction suggest that the essential oil is localized in endogenous and exogenous sites. The essential oil tested showed greater antibacterial and antifungal activities than positive controls.

References: 1. Djeddi, S. et al. (2007)J Nat Comp 4:398–400.

2. Djeddi, S. et al. (2007)J Nat Prod 70:1796–1799.

3. Battandier, JA., Trabut, M. (1905) Flore analytique et synoptique de l'Algérie et de la Tunisie. Vve Giralt. Alger.

4. NCCLS (1997) Performance standards for antimicrobial disk susceptibility test. M2-A6.