Chiang Mai Journal of Science

The constituents of essential oil and various extracts of Fagraea fragrans flowers were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with 118 identified volatile constituents. Three-octadecyne, catalponone and elemicin dominated in the essential oil of the flowers. The -dichloromethane extract of the flowers contained β-bisabolenol, occidol and eugenol as major constituents. Hexane extract showed 3-octadecyne, catalponone and sempervirol as the major components while grandiflorene, himachalol and occidol were evaluated as the dominant components in the methanol extract, respectively. The essential oil of F. fragrans flowers plays a major role as a remarkable bactericide. The extracts obtained from dichloromethane, hexane, and methanol showed minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 125 to 1000 µg/ml against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The essential oil from F. fragrans flowers is also a superior antioxidant (IC₅₀ value of 35.32 µg/ml) compared to all extracts (IC₅₀ values ranging from 72.69 to 154.99 µg/ml) as indicated by 2,2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay.