Volatiles of All Native Juniperus Species Growing in Greece-Antimicrobial Properties

Juniper (Juniperus L., Cupressaceae Bartlett) trees are of high commercial value, as their essential oils are widely applied in the food and cosmetic industries due to their bioactivities. The genus Juniperus comprises eight species in Greece, and in the current work, we report the chemical analyses of their volatiles (GC-MS) obtained from the leaves and cones of all indigenous species found in the country, as well as their antimicrobial properties. The studied species were J. oxycedrus L., J. excelsa M. Bieb., J. foetidissima Willd., J. communis L., J. macrocarpa Sibth. & Sm., J. turbinata Guss., J. sabina L. and J. drupacea Labill., and a total of 164 constituents were identified. Monoterpenes, followed by sesquiterpenes, appeared as the dominant compounds in all investigated species. Most of the studied essential oils belonged to the α-pinene chemotype, with amounts of α-cedrol, sabinene, limonene and myrcene among the abundant metabolites, except for J. sabina, which belonged to the sabinene chemotype. Through antimicrobial tests, it was observed that the essential oils of most of the cones showed better activity compared with the respective leaves. The essential oils of the cones of J. foetidissima, J. communis and J. turbinata showed the strongest activity against the tested microorganisms. Additionally, in these three species, the content of thujone, which is a toxic metabolite found in essential oils of many Juniperus species, was considerably low. Taking into consideration the chemical profile, safety and antimicrobial activity, these three Greek Juniperus species seemed to provide the most promising essential oils for further exploitation in the food and cosmetics industries.

Zimbro (Juniperus communis L.) as a Promising Source of Bioactive Compounds and Biomedical Activities: A Review on Recent Trends

Plant-derived products and their extracted compounds have been used in folk medicine since early times. Zimbro or common juniper (Juniperus communis) is traditionally used to treat renal suppression, acute and chronic cystitis, bladder catarrh, albuminuria, leucorrhea, and amenorrhea. These uses are mainly attributed to its bioactive composition, which is very rich in phenolics, terpenoids, organic acids, alkaloids, and volatile compounds. In the last few years, several studies have analyzed the huge potential of this evergreen shrub, describing a wide range of activities with relevance in different biomedical discipline areas, namely antimicrobial potential against human pathogens and foodborne microorganisms, notorious antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, antidiabetic, antihypercholesterolemic and antihyperlipidemic effects, and neuroprotective action, as well as antiproliferative ability against cancer cells and the ability to activate inductive hepato-, renal- and gastroprotective mechanisms. Owing to these promising activities, extracts and bioactive compounds of juniper could be useful for the development of new pharmacological applications in the treatment of several acute and chronic human diseases.

Rapid discrimination and feature extraction of three Chamaecyparis species by static-HS/GC-MS

This study aimed to develop a rapid and accurate analytical method for discriminating three Chamaecyparis species (C. formosensis, C. obtusa, and C. obtusa var. formosana) that could not be easily distinguished by volatile compounds. A total of 23 leaf samples from three species were analyzed by static-headspace (static-HS) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The static-HS procedure, whose experimental parameters were properly optimized, yielded a high Pearson correlation-based similarity between essential oil and VOC composition (r = 0.555-0.999). Thirty-six major constituents were identified; along with the results of cluster analysis (CA), a large variation in contents among the three different species was observed. Principal component analysis (PCA) methods illustrated graphically the relationships between characteristic components and tree species. It was clearly demonstrated that the static-HS-based procedure enhanced greatly the speed of precise analysis of chemical fingerprint in small sample amounts, thus providing a fast and reliable tool for the prediction of constituent characteristics in essential oil, and also offering good opportunities for studying the role of these feature compounds in chemotaxonomy or ecophysiology.