Phytochemical identification of volatile fraction, essential oil and screening of antioxidant, antibacterial, allelopathic and insecticidal potential from Artemisia herba-alba leaves

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bellili, Sana^{a; b} | Jazi, Sabrine^{a; b} | Hrira, Mohamed Yahya^c | Lamari, Ali^d | Dhifi, Wissal^e | Diouani, Mohamed Fethi^f | Araújo, Maria Eduarda^g | Cioni, Pier Luigi^h | Flamini, Guido^h | Cherif, Ameur^a | Mnif, Wissem^{i; a; *}

Affiliations: [a] University Manouba, ISBST, BVBGR-LR11ES31, Biotechpole Sidi Thabet, Ariana, Tunisia | [b] Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, Jarzouna – Bizerte, University of Carthage, Tunisia | [c] UR 07/06, Laboratoire de Biochimie, Faculté de Pharmacie de Monastir, Université de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisie | [d] Laboratoire de Génétique, Faculté de Médecine de Monastir, Université de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisie | [e] UR Ecophysiologie Environnementale et Procédés Agroalimentaires, Institut Supérieur de Biotechnologie de Sidi Thabet, BiotechPole de Sidi Thabet, Université de la Manouba, Tunisie | [f] LR11-IPT03 Epidémiologie et de Microbiologie Vétérinaire, Institut Pasteur de Tunis 13 Place Pasteur, Tunis Belvédère, Tunisie | [g] Departamento de Química e Bioquímica Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Campo Grande, Lisboa, Portugal | [h] Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biopharmaceutics University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy | [i] Faculty of Sciences and Arts in Balgarn, Balgarn- Sabt Al Alaya, Bisha University, Saudi Arabia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Dr. Wissem Mnif, LR11-ES31 Laboratory of Biotechnology and Valorisation of Bio-GeoRessources, Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Sidi Thabet, BiotechPole of SidiThabet, 2020, Universiy of Manouba, Tunisia. Tel.: +216 98 94 73 71; E-mail: w_mnif@yahoo.fr.

Abstract: In the present paper, the essential oil and the volatiles emitted in vivo by leaves of A. herba alba, which grows wild in center of Tunisia, were analyzed by GC-MS and SPME, respectively. The essential oil was characterized by the predominance of oxygenated monoterpenes (93.3%) with α-thujone as the major compound (45.5%) followed by β-thujone (11.4%), trans-sabinyl acetate (10.1%) and 1,8-cineole (7.4%). The SPME analyses showed that oxygenated monoterpenes were the most representative compounds (64.9%). The major ones were α-thujone (37.9%), germacrene D (16.5%), 1,8-cineole (8.4%) followed by β-thujone (7.8%). Moreover, different activities (antioxidant, antibacterial, allelopathic and insecticidal) of the leaf essential oil were investigated. The antioxidant activity was ascertained by evaluating its inhibitory effect against DPPH and ABTS. The results showed that the essential oil had a strong activity and it was more effective against the DPPH radical (IC50 = 6μg/mL) than the ABTS radical (IC50 = 40μg/mL). In antibacterial screening, it inhibited the growth of all bacteria tested except Salmonella anatum and Salmonella salamae which were resistant to this oil type. Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio cholera were found to be extremely sensitive with the lowest MIC value (0.007 mg/mL). In addition, allelopathic activity was evaluated against Lactuca sativa and Raphanus sativus. Data showed that, with essential oil, seed germination was completely inhibited for both of them, suggesting a potent allelopathic potential for the evaluated oil. Insecticidal activity was investigated against Culex pipiens larvae and a weak activity (LC50 241.1 ppm) for this A. herba alba essential oil.

Keywords: Artemisia herba-alba, biological potentials, essential oil, phytochemical characterization, screening

DOI: 10.3233/MGC-170229

Journal: Main Group Chemistry, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 95-109, 2017