Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils from Horse Chestnut Flowers

Abstract

Essential oil of brown color was obtained by hydro-distillation from fresh flowers of horse chestnut. All major components of the corresponding oils were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The microorganisms most sensitive to the studied essential oil of flowers were revealed: Staphylococcus aureus, Serratia marcescens, and Bacillus subtilis. Extensive documentation on the antimicrobial properties of essential oils and their constituents has been carried out by several workers. Although the mechanism of action of a few essential oil components has been elucidated in many pioneering works in the past, detailed knowledge of most of the compounds and their mechanism of action is still lacking. This knowledge is particularly important for the determination of the effect of essential oils on different microorganisms, how they work in combination with other antimicrobial compounds, and their interaction with food matrix components. Also, recent studies have demonstrated that nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with essential oils have significant antimicrobial potential against multidrug-resistant pathogens due to an increase in chemical stability and solubility, decreased rapid evaporation and minimized degradation of active essential oil components.

Keywords

• fresh flowers
• hydro-distillation and gas chromatography
• chestnut flowers