Chemical composition of the essential oil from Algerian Genista quadriflora Munby and determination of its antibacterial and antifungal activities

• 222 constituents were identified in G. quadriflora essential oil by GC/FID and GC/MS.
• Muurolan-4,7-peroxide, amorpha-4,9-dien-2-ol, and lauric acid were the major compounds.
• Gram-positive were less resistant to the essential oil in contrast with Gram-negative bacteria ones.
• We assessed antifungal activity of oil against Fusarium oxysprum.

The hydrodistilled oil of the aerial parts from Genista quadriflora growing in Algeria was analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC/FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Altogether 222 volatile substances, representing around 77% of the essential oil was identified. The major constituents were the sesquiterpenes muurolan-4,7-peroxide (19.42%), amorpha-4,9-dien-2-ol (10.40%), α-cadinol (2.29%), caryophyllene oxide (1.47%) and germacra-4(15),5,10(14)-trien-1-α-ol (1.39%). Fatty acids were the second most abundant compounds of the essential oil detected with dodecanoic acid (lauric) (3.14%), hexadecanoic acid (palmitic) (2.49%) and tetradecanoic acid (myristic) (1.12%) as main components. The volatile oil was screened in vitro for antibacterial and antifungal activities using dilution and disc diffusion methods. Thus, the crude essential oil exhibited a marked antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporun and a significant inhibition activity was registered towards a Gram-negative bacterium Proteus mirabilis. Substantial antibacterial activity was also recorded against Gram-positive bacteria with MIC: 0.9 ± 0.1 and 1.7 ± 0.3 mg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus suggesting the possibility to use of G. quadriflora essential oil in the development of new drugs for treatment of infectious diseases.

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