Comparative Study of Three Achillea Essential Oils from Eastern Part of Turkey and their Biological Activities

Essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed both by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The main constituents found in Achillea oil were as follows: A. filipendulina Lam.: 43.8% santolina alcohol, 14.5% 1,8-cineole and 12.5% cis-chrysanthenyl acetate; A. magnifica Hiemerl ex Hub.-Mor.: 27.5% linalool, 5.8% spathulenol, 5.5% terpinen-4-ol, 4.7% a-terpineol and 4.7% beta-eudesmol; A. tenuifolia Lam.: 12.4% artemisia ketone, 9.9% p-cymene, 7.1% camphor, 5.9% terpinen-4-ol, 4.7% caryophyllene oxide and 4.5% alpha-pinene. Furthermore, the Achillea essential oils were evaluated for antimalarial and antimicrobial activities. A. magnifica and A. filipendulina oils showed strong antimalarial activity against both chloroquine sensitive D6 (IC50=1.2 and 0.68 mu g/mL) and chloroquine resistant W2 (IC50=1.1 and 0.9 mu g/mL) strains of Plasmodium falciparum without any cytotoxicity to mammalian cells up to IC50=47.6 mu g/mL against Vero cells. whereas A. tenuifolia oil showed no antimalarial activity up to a concentration of 20 mg/mL. All three Achillea oils showed no antibacterial activity against human pathogenic bacteria up to a concentration of 200 mu g/mL. A. tenuifolia and A. magnifica oils demonstrated mild antifungal activity against Cryptococcus neoformans (IC50=45, 20 and 15 mu g/mL, respectively).