Actividad Antimicrobiana y Caracterización Química del Aceite Esencial de Ulex Europaeus L. (Fabaceae)

Abstract

The present research work describes the results of the phytochemical and biological study realized with the essential oils and the ethanolic extract of the aerial parts of the plant specie Ulex europaeus L. (Fabaceae) classified in the National Colombian Herbalist under the collection number COL 596977, with the intention of contributing to the researches around to the Fabaceae´s family, to the Ulex genus and particularly to the plant species, because this plant specie has few phytochemical studies. There were obtained the volatile components proceeding from the extraction of nine essential oils by means of the steam trapping technique from the aerials fresh parts, under the same conditions of extraction; the chemical characterization of these essential oils was realized by Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectrometry (CG-EM), comparison of the of retention indices, the masses spectra and the information reported in the literature, where they were identified: eicosane; 8-hexylpentadecane; decanoic acid; Β-citronellol; D-isomenthol and tetracosan, as the components that showed the highest percentage of relative composition in the extracted oils. The volatile obtained components were analyzed statistically by means of Principal Components Analysis (PCA), with it which was achieved to determine the chemometrics variations of the oil´s profiles being the significant contribution of the oxygenated monoterpenes: ß-citronelol and D-isomentol; the both reported by the first time for the species and for the Ulex genre; being these chemical compounds the most representative compounds of the study of essential oils for the plant species. Also, the profiles were analyzed by means of Hierarchical Conglomerates Analysis (HCA); wich revealed significant chemotypic variations in the profiles of essential oils, this indicates that according to the month of collection and extraction of the essential oils, different chemical compounds can be obtained. The antimicrobial activity was tested to four fractions: (hexane, dichlorometane, ethyl acetate and butanol) all of them obtained from the ethanolic extract of the aerial parts of Ulex europaeus L., which were evaluated opposite to two vine-stocks of bacteria: Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, following the gel diffusion by plate perforation technique; opposite to Escherichia coli, the hexane fraction inhibed the growth of the bacterium with a critical mass of 181.60; the ethyl acetate fraction inhibed the growth of the bacterium with a critical mass of 216.59; the dichlorometane fraction did not present antimicrobial activity; the butanol fraction inhibed the growth of the bacterium with a critical mass of 246.14 and opposite to Staphylococcus aureus, all the fractions (hexane, ethyl acetate, dichlorometane and butanol) they inhibed the growth of the above mentioned bacterium with critical masses (342.01; 162.35; 367.94 and 279.53) respectively.