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• Tsiri, D
• Graikou, K
• Pobłocka-Olech, L
• Krauze-Baranowska, M
• Spyropoulos, C
• Chinou, I
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Tsiri, D
• Graikou, K
• Pobłocka-Olech, L
• Krauze-Baranowska, M
• Spyropoulos, C
• Chinou, I
• [+] on PubMed
• Tsiri, D
• Graikou, K
• Pobłocka-Olech, L
• Krauze-Baranowska, M
• Spyropoulos, C
• Chinou, I

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Molecules 2009, 14(11), 4707-4715; doi:10.3390/molecules14114707

Article

Chemosystematic Value of the Essential Oil Composition of Thuja species Cultivated in Poland—Antimicrobial Activity

Dimitroula Tsiri ^1,2 , Konstantia Graikou ¹ , Loretta Pobłocka-Olech ³ , Miroslawa Krauze-Baranowska ³ , Caroline Spyropoulos ²  and Ioanna Chinou ^1,*

¹ Division of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, School of Pharmacy, University of Athens, Athens 15771, Greece ² Department of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Athens, Athens 15771, Greece ³ Department of Pharmacognosy, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gen. J. Hallera 107 str., 80-416 Gdańsk, Poland

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 21 October 2009; in revised form: 5 November 2009 / Accepted: 9 November 2009 / Published: 19 November 2009

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Diversity Feature Papers)

Download PDF Full-Text [218 KB, uploaded 19 November 2009 09:16 CET]

Abstract: In the framework of the correlation between chemotaxonomy and chemical analysis studies, the chemical composition of the essential oils of four varieties of Thuja species cultivated in Poland − T. occidentalis ‘globosa’, T. occidentalis ‘aurea’, T. plicata and T. plicata ‘gracialis’ − were investigated by GC and GC-MS. Thirty-one compounds were identified from T. occidentalis ‘globosa’, representing 96.92% of the total oil; twenty-seven from T. occidentalis ‘aurea’ (94.34%); thirty-one from T. plicata (94.75%); and thirty compounds from T. plicata ‘gracialis’ (96.36%). The main constituents in all samples were the monoterpene ketones α- and β-thujone, fenchone and sabinene, as well as the diterpenes beyerene and rimuene.The chemosystematic value of the total ketone content of all samples (which varied from 54.30–69.18%) has been discussed and investigated. The constituents, beyerene and the mixture of α- and β-thujone, were isolated from the oils and tested against six Gram-positive and -negative bacteria and three pathogenic fungi. The oils of the two T. plicata species exhibited significant antimicrobial activity, while the mixture of α- and β-thujone showed very strong activity as well.

Keywords: Thuja occidentalis; Thuja plicata; chemosystematics; volatiles; antimicrobial activity

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