Chemical composition and antifungal activity of essential oils from medicinal plants of Kazakhstan

The composition of essential oils from leaves of Kazakhstan medicinal plants was analysed by GC-MS. The major compounds identified were 1,8-cineole (34.2%), myrcene (19.1%) and -pinene (9.4%) in Ajania fruticulosa; 1,8-cineole (21.0%), -thujone (11.0%), camphor (8.5%), borneol (7.3%) and -thujone (6.5%), in Achillea nobilis; camphor (47.3%), 1,8-cineole (23.9%), camphene (9.8%) and -thujone (6.0%) in Artemisia terrae-albae; 1,8-cineole(55.8%) and -pinene (6.2%) in Hyssopus ambiguus; -thuyene(46.3%) and -cadinene(6.3%) in Juniperus sibirica; sabinene (64%) in Juniperus sabina; and -pinene (51.5%), -phellandrene (11.2%) and -cadinene (6.3%) in Pinus sibirica. The essential oils did not show antifungal effect (MIC>1.20mg/mL) on Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus niger, while the oils from A. nobilis, A. terrae-albae, H. ambiguus and J. sabina exhibited moderate and moderate to weak antimicrobial activities on Fusarium verticillioides (MIC=0.60mg/mL) and Fusarium graminearum (MIC=0.60-1.20mg/mL), respectively. A principal component analysis associated the antifungal activity (r(2)>0.80, p=0.05) with the presence of borneol, camphor, camphene, 1,8-cineole,- and -thujone, and of the oxygenated monoterpenes. [GRAPHICS] .