The antimicrobial activities of the isomers and enantiomers of pinene were evaluated against bacterial and fungal cells. The agar diffusion test showed that only the positive enantiomers of the α- and β-isomers of pinene were active. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal microbicidal concentration (MMC) of these monoterpenes were also determined, confirming that the positive en...

BACKGROUND α-Pinene is an important natural product that is widely used in flavorings, fragrances, medicines, fine chemicals and high-density renewable fuels. Currently, α-Pinene used in industry is mainly produced either by tapping trees (gum turpentine) or as a byproduct of paper pulping (crude sulfate turpentine, CST). However, the extraction of it from trees is tedious and inefficient and r...

We tested the ability of human subjects to distinguish between enantiomers, i.e. odorants which are identical except for chirality. In a forced-choice triangular test procedure 20 subjects were repeatedly presented with 10 enantiomeric odor pairs and asked to identify the bottle containing the odd stimulus. We found (i) that as a group, the subjects were only able to significantly discriminate ...

Isolation of volatile and fixed oils from dried berries of Laurus nobilis L. from Tunisia have been obtained by supercritical fractioned extraction with carbon dioxide. Extraction experiments were carried out at a temperature of 40 degrees C and pressures of 90 and 250 bar. The extraction step performed at 90 bar produced a volatile fraction mainly composed of (E)-beta-ocimene (20.9%), 1,8-cine...

The aerial parts of Salvia chloroleuca were collected at full flowering stage at Shahrestanak (Tehran province of Iran). The essential oil was isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by combination of capillary GC and GC-MS. Thirty-four components were identified, representing 98.5% of the total oil. beta-Pinene (10.6%), alpha-pinene (9.0%), beta-caryophyllene (9.0%), 1,8-cineole (9.0%) and ...

The composition of essential oils of Leutea glaucopruinosa (Rech.f.) Akhani & Salimian comb. nov., and Zeravschania (Boiss. & Hausskn.) Salimian & Akhani comb. nov. were analysed by GC-MS. 49 compounds are identified in the former and 33 compounds in the latter, comprising a total of 76 compounds in both species. Both species were originally described under Peucedanum, which are transferred in ...