Composition, irregular terpenoids, chemical variability and antibacterial activity of the essential oil from Santolina corsica Jordan et Fourr.

A detailed analysis of Santolina corsica essential oil was carried out by combination of GC (RI), GC-MS and 13C NMR spectroscopy. After fractionation by column chromatography, 50 components were identified, accounting for 88.2% of the total amount of the oil. The chemical composition was dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons, myrcene (34.6%), santolina triene (13.5%) and beta-phellandrene (11.7%). Beside the main compounds, we noted the occurrence of irregular mono and sesquiterpenes belonging to five families: santolinane, artemisane, chrysanthemane, lavandulane and sesquilavandulane. Three compounds, lyratyl butyrate, isolyratone and epi-isolyratol were isolated and their structure elucidated by 2D NMR. Antibacterial activity was tested against six bacteria strains. The essential oil was effective against Staphylococcus aureus and C. jejuni. Lyratol was identified as main responsive of the antibacterial activity. The content of lyratol was measured in 33 oil samples isolated from individual plants.