Chemical composition, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of essential oil and lipoidal matter of the flowers and pods of Tipuana tipu growing in Egypt

Abstract

Hydrodistillation of the flowers of Tipuana tipu yielded 0.5% v/w of oil. Eighteen components were identified by GC/MS analysis and Perhydro-farnesyl (32.17%) was the major constituent. Qualitative a and quantitative analysis of fatty acids and unsaponifiable matter using GC/MS revealed the presence of fifteen fatty acids in leaves and fourteen in pods. Decosane was the major identified hydrocarbon representing (17.6%) in leaves and (12.72%) in pods. .The leaf extract and volatile oil of flowers showed a broad spectrum antimicrobial effect, while pods extract showed obvious activity on Escherichia coli (gram –ve bacterium) and yeast. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of the methanolic and chloroformic extracts of leaves and pods were ranged from 0.2-0.6 mg/ml while volatile oil of flowers was 0.05. Leaf extract was found to be stable at 37ºC for 25 h and the remaining activity was 72% to 86%. The activity against all tested microorganisms was completely lost after incubation at 50ºC for 15 h. Storage at room temperature (25ºC) for three months in air tight glass bottle retains the activity. The exposure of the isolated fractions to different pH (2 to 12) for 15 min incubation period showed that fractions retain about 52% to 74% of the activity at pH 2 and 45% to 65% at pH 8 and a complete loss in activity was observed at pH 12. The methanolic extract showed an obvious cytotoxic activity against breast and colon carcinoma cell lines, while the chloroformic extract showed cytotoxic activity against breast and cervix carcinoma cell lines. The volatile oil showed significant cytotoxic activity against the three examined cell lines.