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CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIMICROBIAL POTENTIAL OF CENTAUREA SOLSTITIALIS VOLATILE COMPOUNDS

Centaurea solstitialis L. (Asteraceae), yellow star thistle, is a perennial or biennial herbaceous plant growing in a dense populations on dry desolate grasslands, cultivated areas or abandoned sunny habitats along the Mediterranean region. Several Centaurea species are used in a traditional medicine and aerial parts of C. solstitialis were used in ethnomedicine for treatment of malaria, peptic ulcer, Herpes labialis, colds, dyspepsia, abscesses, hemorrhoids and some gastrointestinal disorders. The volatile oil (VO), obtained by hidrodistillation from aerial plant parts was investigated for its antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative opportunistic pathogenic bacteria and fungi, using disc-diffusion and microdilution assays. The chemical analysis of VO, performed using GC and GC-MS, found 25 compounds, distributed into terpene and nonterpene compound groups. Hexadecanoic acid, α-linolenic acid, germacrene D and heptacosane were dominant compounds. The C. solstitialis VO exhibited very good inhibitory potential against cefotaxime-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Chronobacter sakazakii, Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens. The oil was found to be extremely potent in inhibiting fungal growth of Candida albicans, Penicillium funiculosum and Aspergillus fumigatus. Based on literature data, we speculate that the significant antifungal and antibacterial activity of C. solstitialis VO observed herein is chemical composition-depended and could be due to the presence of high amount of sesquiterpene germacrene D or aliphatic acids, as one of oil's main constituents.

Centaurea solstitialis ; volatile compounds ; GC-MS ; antimicrobial activity

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