pubmed-article:16366708 | pubmed:abstractText | The chemical composition of the essential oil from flowering tops of Achillea ligustica All. was studied. Samples were collected in different localities of Sardinia (Italy) and hydrodistilled both with Clevenger-type and with simultaneous distillation-extraction apparatus. The yields ranged between 0.88 +/- 0.06 and 0.43 +/- 0.02% (vol/dry wt). The essential oils were analyzed by GC-MS, and a total of 96 components were detected. From a qualitative point of view, irrelevant differences between samples were observed. Strong chemical variability depending on the origin of the samples was observed. The major compounds found were santolina alcohol (6.7-21.8%, for the first time detected in A. ligustica), borneol (3.4-20.8%), sabinol (2.1-15.5%), trans-sabinyl acetate (0.9-17.6%), alpha-thujone (0.4-25.8%), and, among sesquiterpenes, viridiflorol (0.7-3.6%). No significant differences were detected between essential oils extracted by hydrodistillation and simultaneous distillation-extraction with CH2Cl2 and n-hexane. Antioxidant activity as DPPH radical scavenging activity was expressed in TEAC and ranged between 0.40 and 0.88 mmol/L. The antimicrobial and antifungal activities were investigated on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Penicillium commune, Fusarium oxysporum, Rizoctonia solani, and Aspergillus flavus, showing low activity. | lld:pubmed |