Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of pinus halepensis from Algeria

Abstract

The chemical composition of Pinus halepensis essential oils and their antibacterial activities were investigated. Plant samples were collected in the flowering stage from the East locality of Algeria. The aerial parts of P. halepensis from fifteen localities were subjected to a hydro-distillation. The analysis of the chemical composition of essential oils was performed by using GC, and GC / MS. Hydro-distillation of P. halepensis produces a pale yellow viscous oil with an average yield of 0.64 ± 0.37%. A total of thirty-seven compounds representing 99.4 ± 0.5% of the total oils were identified in P. halepensis. The hydrocarbon compounds were found to dominate essential oils in P. halepensis. In addition, the major compounds were caryophyllene-E (29.06 ± 8.5%), myrcene (19.14 ± 6.67%), α-pinene (16.86 ± 3.35%), phenyl ethyl 3-methyl butanoate (5.67 ± 2.47%), α-humulene (4.81 ± 1.43%), terpinolene (3.94 ± 1.6%) and sabinene (3.11 ± 1.84%). The essential oil samples were clustered in five groups based on their chemical composition by UPGMA analysis. The first group includes the Tafrent essential oil population. It is characterized by the phenyl ethyl-3-methyl butanoate – Sabinene ‒ Δ3-carene chemotype. The second group was subdivided into two clusters. The 1st cluster or chemotype was characterized by the myrcene ‒ α-pinene ‒ caryophyllene-E. The second chemotype was characterized by caryophyllene-E ‒ α-humulene ‒ myrcene. The essential oil of P. halepensis is an effective antimicrobial against Staphylococcus aureus; Klebsiella pneumonia; Salmonella enteric spp arizonae; Listeria innocua; Proteus mirabilis and Bacillus cereus, and not active against E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.