Studies on the essential oils composition, antibacterial and cytotoxicity of Eugenia uniflora L.

The compositional profile of the essential oils isolated from Eugenia uniflora L. revealed the occurrence of an unusual sesquiterpene as the major compound. The volatile oils were characterized by the abundance of curzerene (19.7%), selina-1,3,7(11)-trien-8-one (17.8%), atractylone (16.9%) and furanodiene (9.6%) in the leaves; and germacrone (27.5%), selina-1,3,7(11)-trien-8-one (19.2%) curzerene (11.3%) and oxidoselina-1,3,7(11)-trien-8-one (11.0%) in the fruits. The two oils exhibited potent cytotoxic activity and varying antibacterial effects.