Antimicrobial activity of essential oils from Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus and Tynanthus micranthus

• Autor(a) principal: Custódio,Dayana Lacerda
• Data de Publicação: 2010
• Outros Autores: Burgo,Rafaela Pinheiro, Moriel,Bárbara, Barbosa,Aneli de Melo, Rezende,Maria Ines, Daniel,Juliana Feijó de Souza, Pinto,Jurandir Pereira, Bianchini,Edmilson, Faria,Terezinha de Jesus
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132010000600013
• topic: Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus; Tynanthus micranthus; essential oil; antimicrobial activity

The present study describes the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves of Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus (1.0% w/w) and Tynanthus micranthus (1.1% w/w). GC and GC/MS analysis demonstrated that eugenol was the only component in the T. micranthus essential oil (99.9%) and the major component in the P. pseudocaryophyllus essential oil (92.59%), which also presented methyleugenol, terpinen-4-ol, o-cymene and (E)-caryophyllene, among others. Both the oils presented antimicrobial activity against bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi tested.The Bioautography test revealed that eugenol was the bioactive component in both the oils against Cladosporium herbarum. This is the first report about the T. micranthus essential oil, and the antifungal activity of P. pseudocaryophyllus. The results confirmed the potential of eugenol-rich essential oils not only as a source of flavor compounds, but also of use as antimicrobial agent in agriculture and in pharmaceutical and food products.