Oil yield, components and antimicrobial activity of volatile oils of Cinnamomi Cortex from different growth environments and growth years / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the oil yield, components and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Cinnamomi Cortex from different growth environments and growth years. Methods: Cinnamon oil was extracted by steam distillation, the chemical components were separated and identified by GC-MS, and the relative content of each component was determined by area normalization. The diameter of the inhibition zone and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were measured using filter paper method and micro dilution method. The antimicrobial effect of seven copies of cinnamon oil on three common pathogens of respiratory tract were evaluated. Results: The highest oil yield was 10-year-old cinnamon (6.41%), the lowest was 20-year-old (1.75%), and sparse planting (4.48%) was the best among 15-year-old cinnamon. A total of 44 compounds were identified in the seven samples. The major common components with a relative content of more than 1% were trans-cinnamaldehyde (16.23%-73.08%), α-copaene (7.39%-41.70%), β-cadinene (2.22%-12.30%), and α-muurolene (1.00%-9.16%). The antibacterial experiments showed that essential oil of cinnamon from different growth environments and growth years had obvious inhibitory effect on the tested strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, but weaker inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Among them, volatile oil of 15-year-old sparse planting and close planting cinnamon had better antimicrobial activity. Conclusion: Oil yield, essential oils components and antimicrobial activity of cinnamon were affected by growth environments and growth years. Cinnamon oil contains other effective antimicrobial components besides cinnamaldehyde and α-copaene.