Chemical composition, antifungal activity and toxicity of essential oils from the leaves of chimonanthus praecox located at two different geographical origin

Abstract

The composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of different geographical origin of Chimonanthus praecox, including Hangzhou and Wenzhou samples, were investigated by GC/MS. Forty three components comprising 93.05 % of the leave oils from Hangzhou plant, and 32 components comprising 94.26 % of the leave oils from Wenzhou plant were identified. The major components in the leaf oil from Hangzhou samples were (-)-alloisolongifolene (10.20 %), caryophyllene (9.31 %), elixene (8.52 %), germacrene D (7.30 %), germacrene B (7.44 %), δ-cadinene (6.17 %) and β-elemen (4.67 %). While, the oil from Wenzhou samples contained furan, 3-(4,8- dimethyl-3,7-nonadienyl)-, (E)-(21.69 %), eucalyptol (19.02 %), terpilene (12.41 %), p-menth-1-en-8-ol (6.65 %) and geraniol (5.29 %) as the major components. The antifungal activity of the oils against 8 phytopathogenic fungi was tested by determining minimum inhibitory concentrations using the microdilution method. Both oils exhibited potent antifungal activities with MIC values of 8-32 μg/mL. Both oils were considered bioactive, showing an LC50 value of 30 and 22 μg/mL in the Artemia salina lethality test.