Identification of essential oil components from Conradina canescens

Abstract

canescens Gray (false rosemary) is a common evergreen shrub, endemic to a small area of west Florida and adjacent Alabama and southern parts of Mississippi, USA. In this work, essential oils of C. canescens were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. The analysis revealed a variety of terpenes, terpenic alcohols, ketones, and aldehydes. The major components of C. canescens oil were 1,8-cineole, camphor, α-pinene, p-cymene, cis-pinocamphone, myrtenal, myrtenol, verbenone, and myrtenyl acetate, in addition to other minor constituents. Antimicrobial activities were determined using the microbroth dilution technique, and in-vitro cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells was tested using the MTT assay. C. canescens oils have shown no antimicrobial or anticancer activity although some of their identified constituents are antimicrobial agents.