Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oil from Baccharis nitida (Ruiz & Pav.) Pers. (Asteraceae) leaves Collected in Mérida-Venezuela

Abstract

Natural products have been used to treat different ailments for millions of years. In this regard, Asteraceae, a widespread family of flowering plants, has been extensively studied for the chemical composition and biological activity of the species belonging to this family. Baccharis genus is one of the largest genera of Asteraceae family. Species of this genus have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of different illnesses. Thus, the aim of present investigation is to determine the chemical composition of essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from Baccharis nitida leaves collected in Mérida state, Venezuela and to evaluate the antibacterial activity of the oil against five bacterial strains. Results showed that the essential oil of B. nitida analyzed by GC and GC-MS techniques is composed mainly of monoterpenes, being myrcene (25.24 %), 1-epi-cubenol (11.87 %), trans-β-ocymene (8.52 %) and limonene (7.34 %) as major components. Antibacterial activity carried out according to the disc diffusion method revealed that the oil has activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli.