Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil and different fractions of Juniperus communis L. and a comparison with some commercial antibiotics

Abstract

The essential oil of common juniper (Juniperus communis L., from the southern part of Serbia) and its fractions of different composition, as well as commercial antibiotics were used for testing their antimicrobial activity against bacteria, yeast and fungi. The essential oil was produced by hydro-distillation in a pilot plant (130 dm3) and then fractionated by distillation over a column, with 36 theoretical stages, under vacuum (26-66 mbar). The essential oil was also fractionated using pure CO2 or CO2 and methanol as co-solvent under supercritical conditions. The native oil showed weak antimicrobial activity, while the fractions with a high content of α-pinene, and mixture of α-pinene and sabinene showed the highest antimicrobial activity, especially against fungi. In comparison to the commercial antibiotics, the oil fractions showed more extensive spectra of antimicrobial activity, as well as wider inhibition zones. .

Etarsko ulje ploda kleke (Juniperus communis L. iz južnog dela Srbije) dobijeno je hidrodestilacijom u pilot postrojenju (130 dm3) a zatim frakcionisano u destilacionoj koloni, sa 36 teoretskih podova, pod vakuumom (26-66 mbar). Etarsko ulje je takođe frakcionisano korišćenjem čistog CO2 i smeše CO2 i metanola kao kosolventa pod natkritičnim uslovima. Devet različitih uzoraka (etarsko ulje i njegove frakcije različitih sastava) kao i komercijalni antibiotici korišćeni su u testiranju antimikrobne aktivnosti i inhibitornog uticaja na razvoj nekih bakterija, kvasaca i gljivica. Etarsko ulje kleke je pokazalo slabu antimikrobnu aktivnost na svim sojevima a frakcije sa čistim α-pinenom i smešom α-pinena i sabinena naročito na rast gljivica. U poređenju sa komercijalnim antibioticima frakcije etarskog ulja kleke pokazuju širok spektar delovanja kao i veće zone inhibicije. .