Local anaesthetic, antibacterial and antifungal properties of sesquiterpenes from myrrh

We extracted, purified and characterised 8 sesquiterpene fractions from Commyphora molmol. In particular, we focused our attention on a mixture of furanodiene-6-one and methoxyfuranoguaia-9-ene-8-one, which showed antibacterial and antifungal activity against standard pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Candida albicans, with minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging from 0.18 to 2.8 mu g/ml. These compounds also had local anaesthetic activity, blocking the inward sodium current of excitable mammalian membranes.