Antifungal compounds from the rhizome and roots of Ferula hermonis.

The antifungal activity of hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and aqueous extracts from the rhizome and root of Ferula hermonis was assayed in vitro by the agar disk diffusion method against a panel of human opportunistic and pathogenic fungi. Among them, the hexane and dichloromethane extracts showed the highest activity particularly against the dermatophytes Microsporum gypseum and Tricophyton mentagrophytes as well as the yeast Candida lactis-condensi. Activity-guided fractionation of both extracts using an agar overlay bioautographic method led to the isolation of two antifungal compounds which were identified as the daucane aryl esters jaeschkeanadiol p-hydroxybenzoate (ferutinin) and jaeschkeanadiol benzoate (teferidin).

Composition and antifungal activity of the essential oil from the rhizome and roots of Ferula hermonis.

The analysis of the essential oil from rhizome and roots of Ferula hermonis Boiss. (Apiaceae) by GC-FID, GC-MS and ¹³C NMR allowed the identification of 79 constituents, more than 90% of the oil, the major one being α-pinene (43.3%), followed by α-bisabolol (11.