Abstract:

GC-MS based on steam distillation extraction was used to analyze chemical composition of volatile oil from Fructus liquidambaris. Quantitative determination was conducted using area normalization method. GC-MS results exhibited that 43 peaks were separated and 38 components were identified with 97.28% total detection rate. Twenty-eight of these compounds belonged to the family of terpenes accounting for 83.21% of total volatile oil; 6 were aliphatic compounds and 4 were aromatic compounds, accounting for 12.02% and 2.05% total volatile oil, respectively. Major compounds in Fructus liquidambaris volatile oil were β-pinene (21.96%), α-pinene (21.32%), limonene (8.43%), (E)-2-hexenal (8.04%), and β-caryophyllene (5.67%). Antimicrobial activity of Fructus liquidambaris volatile oil was evaluated by paper disc method. Results indicated that Fructus liquidambaris volatile oil had an obvious antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Aspergillus flavus, and Penicillium oxalicum. The volatile oil exhibited the strongest and weakest antimicrobial activities against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, respectively. However, the control group had no antimicrobial effect. Variance analysis suggested that there was a significant difference in antimicrobial activity of the same concentrations of Fructus liquidambaris volatile oil against various microorganisms and various concentrations of Fructus liquidambaris volatile oil also had a significant difference in antimicrobial activity against the same microorganisms.

Key words: Fructus liquidambaris, volatile oil, chemical composition, antimicrobial activity