Chemical Composition, Antibacterial, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities of the Essential Oil of Dianella ensifolia

The essential oil (EO) was isolated from aerial parts of Dianella ensifolia (L.) DC by hydro-distillation and its chemical constituents was determined by GC-FID and GC-MS. In total, sixty-three compounds comprising 97.2% of the EO were identified. The major compounds in D. ensifolia EO were found to be allo-aromadendrene (7.3%), geranylacetone (6.2%), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (4.4%), longifolene (4.2%) and beta-caryophyllene (4.0%). Besides, the essential oil was evaluated for its antibacterial activity by disc diffusion and broth microdilution method. The D. ensifolia EO exhibited a potential broad-spectrum in vitro antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Also, antioxidant activities of the EO were examined by employing DPPH, ABTS as well as FRAP assays. A weak to moderate antioxidant activity of the EO was observed. Furthermore, in vitro cytotoxic activity evaluation against the cell lines HepG2 and MCF-7 by MTT method showed a potent cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 61.35 mu g /mL and 56.53 mu g/mL, respectively.