Chemical composition, antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of the essential oil of dianella ensifolia

Abstract

The essential oil (EO) was isolated from aerial parts of Dianella ensifolia (L.) DC by hydro-distillation and its chemical constituents was determined by GC-FID and GC-MS. In total, sixty-three compounds comprising 97.2% of the EO were identified. The major compounds in D. ensifolia EO were found to be allo-aromadendrene (7.3%), geranylacetone (6.2%), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (4.4%), longifolene (4.2%) and β-caryophyllene (4.0%). Besides, the essential oil was evaluated for its antibacterial activity by disc diffusion and broth microdilution method. The D. ensifolia EO exhibited a potential broad-spectrum in vitro antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Also, antioxidant activities of the EO were examined by employing DPPH, ABTS as well as FRAP assays. A weak to moderate antioxidant activity of the EO was observed. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxic activity evaluation against the cell lines HepG2 and MCF-7 by MTT method showed a potent cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 61.35 μg /mL and 56.53 μg /mL, respectively.