Antimicrobial activity and a comparative essential oil analysis of Centaurea pulcherrima Willd. var. pulcherrima extracted by hydrodistillation and microwave distillation

• Published in: Natural product research Vol. 26; no. 8; pp. 703 - 712
• Main Authors: Kahriman, N., Tosun, G., İskender, N. Yılmaz, Karaoğlu, Ş. Alpay, Yayli, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2012
• Subjects: Anti-Infective Agents - analysis; Asteraceae; Centaurea; Centaurea - chemistry; Centaurea pulcherrima var. pulcherrima; essential oil; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; GC-FID, GC-MS; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microwaves; Oils, Volatile - chemistry
• ISSN: 1478-6419; 1478-6427
• DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2010.551298

The essential oils of Centaurea pulcherrima Willd. var. pulcherrima (Asteraceae) were isolated by hydrodistillation (HD) and a microwave distillation (MD), than characterised by GC-FID and GC-MS. A total of 58 and 57 compounds were identified, constituting over 93.7%, and 91.6% of volatile oil composition of C. pulcherrima var. pulcherrima, respectively. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were shown to be the main group of constituents (HD: 42.4% versus MD: 51.5%). The major component of the oils of C. pulcherrima var. pulcherrima was germacrene D (HD, 17.8% versus MD, 23.2%). The antimicrobial activity of the isolated essential oils of the plant was also investigated, and they showed good antibacterial activity against to tested Gram-positive bacteria, especially to M. smegmatis and a yeast-like fungus C. albicans.