The chemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial activities of Dittrichia graveolens (L.) Greuter essential oil was studied. Moreover, using agglomerative hierarchical cluster (AHC) and principal component analyses (PCA), the interrelationships of the D. graveolens essential-oil profiles characterized so far (including the sample from this study) were investigated. To evaluate the chemical composition of the essential oil, GC-FID and GC/MS analyses were performed. Altogether, 54 compounds were identified, accounting for 92.9% of the total oil composition. The D. graveolens oil belongs to the monoterpenoid chemotype, with monoterpenoids comprising 87.4% of the totally identified compounds. The major components were borneol (43.6%) and bornyl acetate (38.3%). Multivariate analysis showed that the compounds borneol and bornyl acetate exerted the greatest influence on the spatial differences in the composition of the reported oils. The antimicrobial activity against five bacterial and one fungal strain was determined using a disk-diffusion assay. The studied essential oil was active only against Gram-positive bacteria.

Three lichen depsidones, physodalic acid (1), physodic acid (2), and 3-hydroxy physodic acid (3), were isolated from Hypogymnia physodes diethyl ether extract using column chromatography, and their structures determined by comparing their UV, 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopic and MS data with those given in the literature, as well as with data computed by CHEM draw ultra 11 software. The contents of 1, 2 and 3 were determined in the methanol (ME), acetone (AE), and diethyl ether (EE) extracts using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. The extracts, isolated depsidones 1-3 and EE fraction F23 (consisting of 90% 2 and 3, in the ratio 5.5: 1) were evaluated for their in vitro effects on chromosome aberrations in peripheral human lymphocytes using the cytochalasin-B blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay in doses of 1 µg/mL and 2 µg/mL of final culture solution. The frequency of MN was scored in binucleated cells, and nuclear proliferation index was calculated. It was found that 1, 2, 3, F23, and EE at 1.0 µg/mL exerted a beneficial effect on lymphocyte cells giving a significant decrease of the frequency of MN in comparison with the positive control Amifostin WR-2721.Among the tested depsidones at a concentration of 1 µg/mL, 3 exhibited the most prominent effect decreasing the frequency of MN by 30.3%, followed by 2 (28.2%) and 1 (22.0%). The extracts were less effective than the isolated depsidones.

The chemical composition of the essential oil of the aerial parts of Teucrium polium ssp. capitatum collected during the flowering period from rocky places and dry pastures, (Serbia, Niš, Kamenica), and dunes along the seaside , (Bulgaria, Burgas, Primorsko) has been studied by GC and GC/MS. The identified compounds, 45 for the oil from Serbia and 44 for that from Bulgaria, amounted to 97.3% and 96.4% of the oils, respectively. The dominant constituents of the Serbian oil were sesquiterpenes {59.6%, the most abundant components being germacrene D (31.8%), trans-caryophyllene (8.8%) and bicyclogermacrene (6.2%)}, while monoterpenes accounted for 37.5% {the most abundant components being linalool (14.0%) and β-pinene (10.7%)}. The essential oil from Bulgaria was characterized by a high percentage of monoterpenes¸ amounting to 62.9% {the most abundant components being β-pinene (26.8%), α-pinene (9.3%) and limonene (6.4%)}, while sesquiterpenes accounted for 33.5% (the most abundant component was germacrene D 17.7%)}.

Eleven species of wild mushrooms which belong to Boletaceae and Russulaceae families were examined by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis for the presence of fatty acids. As far as we know, the fatty acid profiles of B. purpureus and B. rhodoxanthus were described for the first time. Twenty-six fatty acids were determined. Linoleic (19.5 -72%), oleic (0.11 -64%), palmitic (5.9 -22%) and stearic acids (0.81 -57%) were present in the highest contents. In all samples, unsaturated fatty acids dominate. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering was used to display the correlation between the fatty acids and their relationships with the mushroom species. Based on the fatty acids profile in the samples, the mushrooms can be divided into two families: Boletaceae and Russulaceae families, using cluster analysis.

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