Evaluation of Essential Oil From Different Artemisia fragrans Willd. Populations: Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Activity

Artemisia fragrans is an aromatic and perennial herb with green silver leaves and yellow flowers, widely distributed in Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey. The plant and its essential oil (EO) are used in traditional medicine and have economic value. In this study, the composition, antibacterial and antioxidant activities of 16 A. fragrans essential oil samples collected from different habitats in Iran were analyzed. A total of 85 compounds were detected using GC-MS analysis, the major constituents being camphor (9.91-34.44 %), alpha-thujone (19.22-42.63 %) and 1,8-cineole (12.57-31.87 %). Davanone D, alpha-cadinol, verbenene, ortho-oci-men were detected in the analysis as the new components for this species and are first reported by us. Anti-bacterial activity and minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations of EOs were tested on Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Proteus vulgaris (Gram-negative strains) Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococ-cus epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis (Gram-positive strains). The EOs showed better inhibitory effects against Gram-negative strains compared to Gram-positive ones. Among the EOs, E7 (IC50 = 9.1 mu g/mL) population showed the highest radical scavenging capacity, which was equal to the positive control (butylated hyroxytoluene). The quantitative and qualitative variability of the studied EOs and their antibacterial and antioxidant activities may be recommended for pharmacological and cosmetic industries.