Planta Med 2001; 67(6): 580-584
DOI: 10.1055/s-2001-16494
Letter

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Essential Oil Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Three Zingiberaceae from S.Tomé e Príncipe

A. P. Martins1 , L. Salgueiro1,*, M. J. Gonçalves1 , A. Proença da Cunha1 , R. Vila2 , S. Cañigueral2 , V. Mazzoni3 , F. Tomi3 , J. Casanova3
  • 1 Lab. de Farmacognosia, Fac. de Farmácia, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
  • 2 Unitat de Farmacologia i Farmacognòsia, Fac. de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • 3 Université de Corse, Equipe Chimie et Biomasse, URA CNRS 2053, Ajaccio, France
Further Information

Publication History

August 25, 2000

January 21, 2001

Publication Date:
17 August 2001 (online)

Abstract

The essential oil composition of three Zingiberaceae widely used as medicinal aromatic plants from S. Tomé and Príncipe: Aframomum danielli (Hook. f.) K. Schum., Curcuma longa L. and Zingiber officinale Rosc. was studied. Two samples of the essential oils from fruit of A. danielli and from rhizomes of the other two species, were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC, GC-MS, and 13C-NMR. The essential oil from fruits of A. danielli has been studied for the first time and was characterised by its high content of monoterpenes, with 1,8-cineole (25.5 - 34.4 %) the major constituent, followed by β-pinene (14.1 - 15.2 %) and α-terpineol (9.9 - 12.1 %). Essential oils from the rhizomes of C. longa contained a lower content of ar-turmerone (4.0 - 12.8 %) than those reported in the literature for C. longa from other origins (24.7 - 31.4 %), whereas the results for Z. officinale essential oils were in accordance with the literature data. The essential oils of A. danielli and Z. officinale showed antimicrobial activity against all Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria tested, as well as against yeasts and filamentous fungi, using the agar diffusion method.

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Prof. Dra. Lígia Salgueiro

Laboratório de Farmacognosia

Faculdade de Farmácia de Coimbra

3000 Coimbra

Portugal

Email: ligia@ff.uc.pt

Fax: +351-239-8271-26