Essential oil of Lindera neesiana fruit: Chemical analysis and its potential use in topical applications Stefano Comai a , Stefano Dall'Acqua a , Alessia Grillo b , Ignazio Castagliuolo b , Khilendra Gurung c , Gabbriella Innocenti a, ⁎ a Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy b Department of Histology, Microbiology and Medical Biotechnologies, University of Padova, Padova, Italy c Resource Research and Development Center, Kathmandu, Nepal article info abstract Article history: Received 19 January 2009 Accepted in revised form 25 June 2009 Available online 6 July 2009 The composition of the essential oil of Lindera neesiana Kurz fruit was examined by GC-MS, 1 H, 13 C and bidimensional NMR techniques (HMQC, HMBC, COSY, TOCSY). Forty compounds were identified, representing approximately 86% of the oil: Z-citral (15.08%), E-citral (11.89%), eucalyptol (8.75%), citronellal (6.72%), α-pinene (6.63%) and β-pinene (5.61%) were the major components. The essential oil of L. neesiana fruit showed significant antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans at non-cytotoxic doses in human keratinocytes, suggesting possible topical applications. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Lindera neesiana Lauraceae Essential oil of fruit NMR GC-MS Antimicrobial activity 1. Introduction Lindera neesiana Kurz, also known as “Siltimur” in Nepal, is a medium-sized tree belonging to the Lauraceae family, which grows in temperate Himalayan regions. The plant is aromatic and spicy, and the leaves are used as a carminative [1]. The fruit is generally chewed, in Nepalese traditional medicine, and used to treat diarrhoea, tooth pain, headache, and gastric disorders [2,3]. In addition, it is used to eliminate intestinal parasites, and to treat plant poisoning in cattle [4]. The main volatile compounds of the essential oil in the aerial parts of L. neesiana leaves are methyl chavicol and safrole; the essential oil of the branches is rich in myristicin and 1,8-cineole [1]. Succinic acid and β-sitosterol have been reported in the stem [3]. In 2004, Niroula and Vaidya [5] found that the fruit of L. neesiana could be used to control potato tuber moth in storage potatoes, instead of the chemical pesticides. Many essential oils are known for their antibacterial activity [6,7]. The essential oil of L. neesiana fruit is easily produced in several parts of Nepal, but has no reported medicinal uses. Looking for antibacterial activity in this natural product seems to be a rational approach for its possible development. To our knowledge, no phytochemical reports have been published about its composition and no antimicrobial studies have been performed on it. We report here the chemical characterization of the essential oil of L. neesiana fruit by GC-MS and NMR techniques. The GC method is believed to be it is the ideal technique for analysis of volatiles and GC-MS can identify many compounds. Although GC analysis of volatile oils has a number of advantages, NMR spectroscopy is also useful in quantifying single compounds in essential oils, since it does not need fractionation or isolation procedures [8,9]. 1 H-NMR is particularly valuable when the analyzed constituents show Fitoterapia 81 (2010) 11–16 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0498275370; fax: +39 0498275366. E-mail address: gabbriella.innocenti@unipd.it (G. Innocenti). 0367-326X/$ – see front matter © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fitote.2009.06.017 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fitoterapia journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fitote