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Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Foeniculum vulgare Mill

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Abstract

The essential oils of plants have been widely recognized in the pharmaceutical industry due to their various benefits as well as their biological activities. In Algeria, the seeds of Foeniculum vulgare Mill (Family Apiaceae) are widely utilized in herbal medicine. We aimed to examine the chemical composition of seed essential oil of this species, and to reveal its in vitro antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Rhizopus sp., Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton violaceum, Microsporumgypseum, Microsporumcanis and Rhodotorula sp. Chemical analysis of essential oil isolated by hydro-distillation was carried out by GC–FID and GC–MS. The basic components of the essential oil were estragole (84.8%), limonene (7.8%), fenchone (3.1%) and α-pinene (1.3%). The essential oil of F. vulgare revealed higher antifungal activities particularly against C. albicans and Aspergillus species with MIC values of 0.16–0.2 mg/ml.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to Professor Silvia Porcedda for welcoming us to the Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Cagliari, as well as for her help and guidance. The authors would like to acknowledge Professor Meghit Boumediene Khaled for providing necessary corrections to the last version of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Djillali Liabes University, B.P.89, 22000, Sidi Bel Abbés, Algeria

    Fouzia Belabdelli, Nabila Bekhti & Yassin Merad

  2. Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria, SP 8, Monserrato-Sestu km 0.700, 09042, Monserrato, CA, Italy

    Alessandra Piras & Danielo Falconieri

  3. Department of Environment, Faculty of Agronomy, Djillali Liabes University, B.P. 89, 22000, Sidi Bel Abbés, Algeria

    Zoubir Belmokhtar

Authors
  1. Fouzia Belabdelli
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  2. Alessandra Piras
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  3. Nabila Bekhti
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  4. Danielo Falconieri
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  5. Zoubir Belmokhtar
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  6. Yassin Merad
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Correspondence to Fouzia Belabdelli.

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Belabdelli, F., Piras, A., Bekhti, N. et al. Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. Chemistry Africa 3, 323–328 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42250-020-00130-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42250-020-00130-x

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