Chemical composition and antidermatophytic properties of volatile fractions of hexanic extract from leaves of Cupressus lusitanica Mill. from Cameroon

The chemical composition of five column fractions of hexanic leaf extract of Cupressus lusitanica were analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and then tested for their antidermatophytic activities using the agar dilution method. The first fraction (F1) has only hydrocabon monoterpenes with α-pinene (80.0%) as major component. The main constituents of the second fraction (F2) were epi-bicyclosesquiphellandrene (35.3%), epi-zonarene (10.3%), 1S, cis-calamenene (13.1%) and β-himachalene (10.4%). The third fraction (F3) was rich in hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes (45.4%) and a relatively high amount of diterpenes (29.8%) with epi-bicyclosesquiphellandrene (14.3%), pimaric acid (7.5%), kaurenoic acid (6.9%) and 8-β-hydroxysandaracopimarane (3.5%) as main components. The last two fractions contain high molecular weight aliphatic hydrocarbons, their main constituents been eicosane (41.1%) and tricosane (37.3%) and heptacosane (22.1%). The agar dilution method was used to evaluate the antifungal properties of the crude extract and its fractions. These fractions showed several degrees of antidermatophytic activities against Microsporum audouinii, Microsporum Langeronii, Microsporum canis, Trichophyton rubrum and Trichophyton tonsurans. Fractions F1 and F3 exhibited the highest antidermatophytic activities with repective MICs of 250 and 125 μg/ml while the fractions F4 and F5 did not prevent the growth of the tested fungi up to dose 2500 μg/ml.