Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of the leaf essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. from two highs of the canton Cañar, Ecuador.

Abstract

The eucalyptus essential oil has been used in the natural medicine and it has been investigated the medicinal properties of these species that include a wide range of biological activities. The composition of an essential oil can be affected by several factors, such as genetic, ontogenic, morphogenetic and environmental factors. The present work investigated the chemical composition and antibacterial activity of the leaf essential oil of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. plants, which grow in Moyancón and Chorocópte regions (1347 and 3191 m height above sea level, respectively) in the canton Cañar, Ecuador. The essential oils were isolated by means of hydrodistillation during two hours and analyzed by gas chromatography coupled to flame ionization and mass selective detectors. The essential oil yields of leaves from Moyancón and Chorocópte regions were 0.17 % and 0.15 % (v/m), respectively. A total of 99 volatile compounds were identified and quantified, where 1,8-cineol and -pinene were the major compounds. No significant differences in the composition were found by effect of the growth region. The essential oil from Moyancón region showed moderate antibacterial activity against Staphylococus aureus, Streptococus pyogenes and Eschericha coli.

Keywords

• euca lyptus
• essential oil
• chemical composition
• antibacterial activity