Evaluation of some Enantiomers from Essential Oils: Isolation and Biological Activities

The aim of our study was the isolation of enantiomers from natural sources for testing of their biological activities. A preparative fraction collector combined with a GC/MS system was used for the fractionation and isolation of enantiomers from the essential oils [1]. The fractionation procedure was completed in three steps: screening of the essential oils for chiral compounds by using a GC/MS (first step); fractionation of the chiral compounds from the oils by using a preparative capillary column (second step); isolation of the enantiomers by using a chiral column (third step). Isolated compounds were then checked by GC/MS for identification and GC-FID for quantification. The fractionation of enantiomers from the essential oils were realized successfully with the purity of more than 95%. The isolated enantiomers were then evaluated for the different biological activities: anticandidal, antibacterial, antifungal, antimalarial, antileishmanial. (–)-Carvone 60%, (+)-menthofuran 60%, (–)-linalool 55%, (+)-linalool 48% were found to give inhibition effect on Botrytis cinerea at 48 hours. Similarly, (+)-menthone 49%, (+)-menthofuran 33%, (+)-alpha-phellandrene 29% were more active against Phomopsis viticola than the other tested plant pathogens. Acknowledgements: Authors are gratefully thankful to TUBITAK (107T498) and the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service Specific Cooperative Agreement No. 58–6408–7-012 for supporting this project. References: [1] Davankov VA (1997) Pure Appl Chem 69: 1469–1474.