Chemical composition of essential oil and headspace-solid microextracts from fruits of Myrica gale L. and antifungal activity

Abstract

The essential oil and the volatile compounds of Myrica gale fruits were analysed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The volatile compounds were detected using two different fibres for headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME), Carboxen/PDMS and PDMS. Sixty two compounds were identified, which represented more than 90% of the total extracts. Major components of fruit essential oil are α-pinene (22.6%), 1,8-cineole (18.9%) and germacrone (14.2%), whereas they are germacrone (25.1%), α-pinene (12.2%), limonene (8.1%) and α-phellandrene (8.0%) for the leaf essential oil. Major volatile fruit compounds detected in HS-SPME were α-pinene, 1,8-cineole, p-cymene and Ð-cadinene. As M. gale fruits are traditionally used in brewery for flavouring beer or as a spice in soups or stews, the antifungal properties of these essential oils were investigated on a panel of foodborne fungi, namely Aspergillus flavus, Cladosporium cladosporioides and Penicillium expansum. A complete antifungal activity was observed at 1000 ppm against C. cladosporioides. Both essential oil and entire fruits could thus be used as an additive in food or cosmetic preparations for their flavour, odour and their conservative properties.

Keywords:

• Myrica gale
• myricaceae
• volatile compounds
• essential oils
• headspace-solid phase microextraction
• antifungal activity

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to CONIDIA (10 rue Dubois, Bâtiment A-LWOFF, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France) for kindly providing the fungal strains. The authors are grateful to Dr Frederic Blanchard of the National Botanic Conservatory (Bordeaux, France) for harvesting the fruits. Authors would also like to thank Dr Philippe Normand for revising the manuscript.