Antifungal Activity of the Essential Oil of Illicium verum Fruit and Its Main Component trans-Anethole
by
Yongfu Huang 1, Jianglin Zhao 1, 
Ligang Zhou 1,*
, Jihua Wang 1, Youwen Gong 1, Xujun Chen 1, Zejian Guo 1, Qi Wang 1 and Weibo Jiang 2
Ligang Zhou 1,*, Jihua Wang 1, Youwen Gong 1, Xujun Chen 1, Zejian Guo 1, Qi Wang 1 and Weibo Jiang 2
1
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
2
College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Molecules 2010, 15(11), 7558-7569; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules15117558
Received: 14 October 2010 / Revised: 20 October 2010 / Accepted: 25 October 2010 / Published: 27 October 2010
In order to identify natural products for plant disease control, the essential oil of star anise (Illicium verum Hook. f.) fruit was investigated for its antifungal activity on plant pathogenic fungi. The fruit essential oil obtained by hydro-distillation was analyzed for its chemical composition by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). trans-Anethole (89.5%), 2-(1-cyclopentenyl)-furan (0.9%) and cis-anethole (0.7%) were found to be the main components among 22 identified compounds, which accounted for 94.6% of the total oil. The antifungal activity of the oil and its main component trans-anethole against plant pathogenic fungi were determined. Both the essential oil and trans-anethole exhibited strong inhibitory effect against all test fungi indicating that most of the observed antifungal properties was due to the presence of trans-anethole in the oil, which could be developed as natural fungicides for plant disease control in fruit and vegetable preservation.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
Illiciaceae; Illicium verum; essential oil; trans-anethole; antifungal activity; plant pathogenic fungi
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
MDPI and ACS Style
Huang, Y.; Zhao, J.; Zhou, L.; Wang, J.; Gong, Y.; Chen, X.; Guo, Z.; Wang, Q.; Jiang, W. Antifungal Activity of the Essential Oil of Illicium verum Fruit and Its Main Component trans-Anethole. Molecules 2010, 15, 7558-7569.
Show more citation formats
