Chemical Characterization, Antioxidant Capacity and Antimicrobial Potential of Essential Oil from the Leaves of Baccharis oreophila Malme

This is the first time that composition, antimicrobial potential and antioxidant ability of essential oil from the leaves of Baccharis oreophila are reported. Essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/MS. Antimicrobial potential was evaluated by diffusion disk and broth microdilution methods. ABTS(.+), DPPH. and FRAP methods were employed for antioxidant activity evaluation. Essential oil yield was 0.47 %. Sixty-five compounds were identified, representing 88.53 % of the total essential oil, which showed to be rich in oxygenated (37.88 %) and hydrocarbons sesquiterpenes (34.84 %). The main constituents were khusimone (16.37 %) and spathulenol (16.12 %). Antimicrobial activity was verified against S. aureus (10.33 +/- 0.5 mm, MIC: 1250 mu g mL(-1)) and C. albicans (8.66 +/- 0.5 mm, MIC: >2500 mu g mL(.1)). Antioxidant ability was evidenced by FRAP (4.09 mu mol FeSO4 E mL(-1)), ABTS(.+) (1.45 mu mol TE mL(-1)) and DPPH. (1.04 mu mol TE mL(-1)) scavenging capacity. Results showed that this essential oil has interesting biological potential, encouraging further investigations especially in relation to action mechanisms of antimicrobial and antioxidant activity.