The essential oil (EO) from the aerial parts of Leontopodium leontopodioides (Willd.) Beauverd was obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Sixty-five compounds were identified which represent 96.2% of the total composition of the EO. The major components of the EO were palmitic acid (11.6%), n-pentadecanal (5.7%), linalool (3.8%), β-ionone (3.3%), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (3.2%), bisabolone (3.2%) and β-caryophyllene (3.2%). The EO exhibited an excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis according to the MIC values tested by micro-dilution method. It also exhibited a significant cytotoxicity against HepG2 and MCF-7 cell lines with the IC50 values of 67.44 and 70.49 μg/mL according to the MTT assay. However, the antioxidant activity test revealed that the EO exhibited a weak DPPH radical-scavenging activity. In conclusion, the EO of L. leontopodioides could be regarded as a bioactive natural product and deserves further study for its potential therapeutic effects.
Keywords: (Willd.) Beauverd; GC–MS; antibacterial activity; antioxidant activity; cytotoxic activity; essential oil.