Essential oils from leaves of Vernonanthura montevidensis (Spreng.) H. Rob.: chemical profile and antimollicute potential

Abstract

Aiming to valorise the Atlantic Rainforest biodiversity in Santa Catarina, the chemical characterisation of the essential oils (EOs) from leaves of Vernonanthura montevidensis (Spreng.) H. Rob. is described for the first time. Fresh leaves collected in the year 2014 and 2015, were submitted to hydrodistillation to give pale blue EOs in yields of 0.21 and 0.19%, respectively. The EOs were characterised by GC-MS and GC-FID semi- and quantitative methods. The monoterpene β-pinene was the major constituent in both samples reaching a maximum of 26.3%. The monoterpene α-pinene and the sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene, were also among the major constituents in both samples. By means of the extracted ion chromatogram procedure, it was possible to detect chamazulene, which was associated with the pale blue colour of the essential oils. In the in vitro antimollicute assays, the essential oil was moderately active against Mycoplasma genitalium and M. pneumoniae with MIC values of 250 µg mL⁻¹.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Hydrodistillation
• leaf essential oils
• GC-MS (EIC)
• β-pinene
• chamazulene
• mollicutes

Supplemental material

Supplemental data are available online (Experimental, Tables S1 and S2, Figures S1–S3 and references).

Acknowledgements

Also, Luiz Henrique da Silva, MSc, for the English language revision from the Languages Department at Universidade Regional de Blumenau is here acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, PDE grant: 246971/2012-6), UNICE and INCT Catalysis.