Composition And Bioactivity Of Volatile Constituents From Cinnamomum Cassia Presl And Illicium Verum Hook.f.

Composition and bioactivities of the volatile components(including the oil fraction and the water-soluble fraction),extracted from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f.,were studied in this paper.The oil fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. were obtained by steam distillation and ether was used as solvent to extract the water-soluble fraction of the volatile compounds from the left liquid after steam distillation. The yield of of the oil fraction and the water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl were respectively 2.68% and 0.99%. The yield of the oil fraction and the water-soluble fraction of the volatile compounds from Illicium verum Hook.f. were respectively 7.58% and 0.58%.The volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. were analyzed by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. The major constituents in oil fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl were trans-Cinnamaldehyde(59.829%),Copaene(9.561%),δ-Cadinene(6.800%) andα-Muurolene (3.547%).Trans-Cinnamaldehyde(81.68%) and Cinnamic acid(7.631%) were found to be the major compounds in the water-soluble fraction. The major constituents in oil fraction of the volatile components from Illicium verum Hook.f. were trans-p-propenyl-anisole (75.588%),p-allylanisole(7.781%) and p-anisaldehyde (2.180%).P-anisaldehyde (48.402%),p-acetonylanisole (13.554%) and p-anisic acid (3.916%) were found to be the major compounds in the water-soluble fraction. There are significant differences between the oil fraction and water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. .The filter paper disc diffusion method was employed to determine the antimicrobial activity of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. against the common pathogens(Escherichiacoli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus Rosenbach, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium citrinum Thom.), while the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimal bactericidal concentrations(MBC) of them against the examined pathogens were determined by the plate spread method. The result indicated that the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. have strong antimicrobial activity against the examined pathogens. The MIC of the oil fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl against the examined pathogens ranged from0.625 ml/L to 5ml/L and the MBC of them against the examined pathogens ranged from 2.5 ml/L to 10ml/L, while the MIC of the water-soluble fraction against the examined pathogens ranged from 0.312 ml/L to 2.5ml/L and the MBC of them against the examined pathogens ranged from 0.625 ml/L to 5ml/L. The MIC of the oil fraction of the volatile components from Illicium verum Hook.f. against the examined pathogens ranged from 2.5 ml/L to 80ml/L and the MBC of them against the examined pathogens ranged from 10 ml/L to 80ml/L, while the MIC of the water-soluble fraction against the examined pathogens ranged from 1.25 ml/L to 20ml/L and the MBC of them against the examined pathogens ranged from 2.5 ml/L to 40ml/L. The inhibitory effect of water-soluble fraction of volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. against all examined pathogens is significantly better than that of the oil fraction.The antioxidant activity of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. had been evaluated by DPPH radical-scavenging test.The volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. have certain antioxidant capacity and the increase in concentration of them produced accretion in their antioxidant capacity . The antioxidant capacity of water-soluble fraction(IC50=1.92 mg/mL) of volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl is significantly higher than that of oil fraction(IC50=6.14 mg/mL), which is mainly due to the percentage of trans-Cinnamaldehyde in the composition. The antioxidant capacity of water-soluble fraction(IC50=4.34 mg/mL) of volatile components from Illicium verum Hook.f. is significantly higher than that of oil fraction(IC50=19.03 mg/mL), which is mainly due to that the antioxidant capacity of the major compounds(p-acetonylanisole IC50=12.35mg/mL and p-anisaldehyde IC50=38.13mg/mL) in water-soluble fraction is significantly higher than that of the major compound(trans-p-propenyl-anisole IC50=565.79mg/mL) in oil fraction.The repellent activity of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. against Culex fatigans in Guangxi was investigated in term of GB/T 13917.9-2009.The effective repellence time of the water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl is 150 min and that of oil fraction is 120 min in the concentration of 25%, while the effective repellence time of the water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Illicium verum Hook.f. is 165 min and that of oil fraction is 120min in the concentration of 25% . The effective repellence time of the water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl is 300min and that of oil fraction is 180min in the concentration of 50% ,while the effective repellence time of the water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Illicium verum Hook.f. is 180 min and that of oil fraction is 120 min in the concentration of 50%. The repellent activity of the water-soluble fraction of the volatile components from Cinnamomum cassia Presl and Illicium verum Hook.f. against Culex fatigans are better than that of oil fraction.