Chemical composition of fatty acids and unsaponifiable fraction of leaves, stems and roots from Arbutus unedo and in vitro antimicrobial activity of unsaponifiable extracts

The chemical composition of fatty acids and unsaponifiable fraction of leaves, stems and roots of Arbutus unedo L. were determined using gas chromatography and gas chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Then fatty acid fractions of the leaves, stems and roots contained 38.5%, 31.32% and 14.1% palmitic ac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inNatural product communications Vol. 5; no. 7; pp. 1085 - 1090
Main Authors Dib, M.-A., Paolini, J., Bendahou, M., Varesi, L., Allali, H., Desjobert, J.M., Tabti, B., Costa, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published SAGE Publications 2010
Subjects
Chemical Sciences
Organic chemistry
Arbutus unedo L
unsaponifiable fraction
fatty acid
strawberry tree
antimicrobial activity
GC/MS
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The chemical composition of fatty acids and unsaponifiable fraction of leaves, stems and roots of Arbutus unedo L. were determined using gas chromatography and gas chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. Then fatty acid fractions of the leaves, stems and roots contained 38.5%, 31.32% and 14.1% palmitic acid respectively, along with other long chain fatty acids (up to C22). The chemical composition of the unsaponifiable fractions differed: the leaf and stem fractions contained high levels of aliphatic (32.1% and 62.6%, respectively) and terpenic compounds (49.6% and 25.7%, respectively), and the root fraction mainly contained esters, of which the most aboundant was benzyl cinnamate (36.6%). The antimicrobial activities of the unsaponifiable fractions against nine species of microorganismes were assessed. The unsaponifiable leaf and stem extracts inhibited the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enteroccocus faecalis and Candida albicans.
ISSN:1934-578X
1555-9475