Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oil from narcissus (Narcissus poeticus L.) and absolute from four rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) cultivars

The 28 components of N. poeticus essential oil and 37 of R. damascena Mill. absolutes of Moldovan origin were identified by GC-MS analysis. The major component of N. poeticus essential oil was γ-terpineol (52.62%). In addition to previously described terpene constituents: (Z)-β-ocimene (6.81%), eucalyptol (5.48%), (E)-β-ocimene (2.78%), β-caryophyllene (0.88%), β-myrcene (0.41%) - several compounds not previously described in Narcissus oil were identified, including lilac alcohols B and D (0.53 and 0.42%, respectively), lilac aldehydes A and C (0.43% and 0.78%, respectively), etc. The chemical constituents of R. damascena absolutes belong to several classes. The main constituent, as expected, is phenylethyl alcohol, the content of which varies from 59.85% to 78.17%. The terpene fraction is represented by several compounds like β-cytronellol (0.79-6.53%), nerol (5.89%), elemol (0.37%) and α-eudesmol (0.32%). The in vitro assessment of the essential oil from N. poeticus and R. damascena absolutes against four bacterial strains and two fungal species showed high antibacterial and antifungal activity, with effective concentrations ranging from 150 to 300 mg/mL for N. poeticus oil and from 300 to 600 mg/mL or R. damascena absolutes.