Composition and Antibacterial Screening of the Essential Oils of Leaves and Roots of Espeletiopsis Angustifolia Cuatrec

Abstract

Hydrodistillation of leaves and roots of Espeletiopsis angustifolia Cuatrec. (Asteraceae) yielded 0.18% and 0.15% essential oils, respectively. GC-MS analysis allowed identification of 24 components, which made up 92.9% of the total oil from the leaves, while only 16 compounds (67.2%) were identified in the roots. The most abundant compounds in the leaves were α-pinene (29.9%), β-caryophyllene (14.1%), α-gurjunene (9.9%), β-pinene (9.6%), and 19-oxo-ent-kaur-16-ene (5.3%). In the roots, the main ones were α-pinene (27.9%), β-pinene (10.9%), β-caryophyllene (10.2%), and bicyclogermacrene (8.6%). Antibacterial activity was tested against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria using the agar diffusion method. Activity was observed only against Gram-positive bacteria. MIC values were determined for Staphyloccocus aureus ATCC 25923 (1000 μg/mL, both roots and leaves) and Enteroccocus faecalis ATCC 29212 (240 μg/mL, roots and 360 μg/ mL, leaves).