Chemical Composit ion, Antimicrobial Activity of E ssential oil and Chromosome N umber of Senecio jacobaea L . from Algeria

Abstract

The objective of this work is to identify the chemical composition of the essential oil of Senecio jacobaea from Algeria, to test its antimicrobial activities and to identify its chromosomal number. The analysis and identification of the components of the essential oil of this species was performed using the (GC/SM), the antimicrobial activity is tested on five bacterial strains and yeast and the crushing process is used in the karyotype analysis. The samples of S. jacobaea were harvested from eastern Algeria: Souk Lethnine (Bejaia) in full bloom stage. The air dried materials were subjected to a hydrodistillation which gave aviscous liquid with pale yellow oil. The analysis by GC-GC/MS allowed the identification of 44 compounds corresponding to 83.56% of the total oil. This oil is characterized by the presence of major components, pentanol-3-methyl (25.70%), followed by cyclopentanedione-3-methyl-1,2 (22.83%) and phytol (3.15%). The hydrocarbons and alcohols represent 56% of the oil of S. jacobaea. The essential oil, tested on 5 bacterial strains and yeast, showed arelatively moderate antimicrobial activity against all the bacteria tested. The population of S.jacobaea shows a tertraploïde chromosome number,2n = 4x = 40, with a basic chromosome number x = 10