Óleos essenciais de Cymbopogon nardus, Cinnamomum zeylanicum e Zingiber officinale: Composição, atividades antioxidante e antibacteriana

Abstract

The aims of this study were to chemically characterize and to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activitiesof the citronella (Cymbopogon nardus), cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) essential oils.The essential oil extraction was performed by the using of hydrodistillation through the modified Clevenger apparatus, andidentification and quantification of the constituents by the GC/MS and GC-FID analysis. Evaluation of antibacterial activitywas performed by using agar well diffusion method, with Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19117, Escherichia coli ATCC 11229, Salmonella Cholerasuis ATCC 6539 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 15442. Theantioxidant activity was evaluated by using β-carotene/linoleic acid system and the radical scavenging DPPH method. Inchromatographic analysis the major constituents of C. nardus essential oil were citronellal (47.12%), geraniol (18.56%) andcitronellol (11.07%), in the C. zeylanicum essential oil were identified (E)-cinnamaldehyde (77.72%), acetate (E)-cinnamyl(5.99%) and the monoterpenoid 1,8-cineole (4.66%) as major components, and in Z. officinale the majority were geranial(25.06%), neral (16.47%), 1,8-cineole (10.98%), geraniol (8.51%), geranyl acetate (4.19%) and camphene (4.30%). Theessential oils showed antibacterial activity for both Gram-negative and Gram-positive microorganisms, and the most efficientwas C. zeylanicum essential oil. The antioxidant activity was observed, when using β-carotene/ linoleic acid system, for C.nardus, followed by Z. officinale and C. zeylanicum and, when using DPPH test, activity was observed only for C. nardus.