Composition and evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Senecio selloi Spreng DC.

The essential oil of the aerial parts of Senecio selloi Spreng. DC. was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/MS. Nineteen compounds were identified, representing 99.9% of the total. The main compounds were found to be sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (71.3%), most of them with a bisabolane skeleton (59.4%). The major constituent was α-zingiberene (54%), followed by monoterpene α-isolimonene (16%). The essential oil was also tested against two Gram-positive and two Gram-negative bacterial species, three yeasts, and an algae. From the strains assayed, only Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 showed susceptibility (MIC and MBC = 4400 µg/mL) to the essential oil