Chemical Composition, Antibacterial, Cytotoxic and Antioxidant Activities of the Essential Oil of Malvastrum coromandelianum Aerial Parts

Malvastrum coromandelianum (L.) Garcke is a subshrub of the Malvaceae family with various medicinal properties. The objective of this study was to investigate the chemical composition, antibacterial, cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the essential oil isolated from the aerial parts of M. coromandelianum. The chemical composition was identified by GC/FID and GC/MS analysis. Fifty compounds were identified, representing 98.5 % of the oil. The major constituents were identified as palmitic acid (19.2 %), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (5.2 %), linoleic acid (4.8 %), ?-caryophyllene (3.5 %) and cedren-8-en-15-ol (3.1 %). The antibacterial activity was evaluated by the disc agar diffusion and micro-broth dilution assays. The results demonstrated that the essential oil exhibited significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli with MIC values of 0.156 mg/mL, 0.156 mg/mL and 0.078 mg/mL, respectively. In addition, a moderate cytotoxic effect was observed against HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines with IC50 values of 116.40 ?g/mL and 120.27 ?g/mL according to the MTT assay. The essential oil was also evaluated for antioxidant effects by DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays, which showed a weak antioxidant activity.