Chemical Composition of Fatty Acid and Unsaponifiable Fractions of Leaves, Stems and Roots of Arbutus unedo and in vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Unsaponifiable Extracts

The chemical composition of the fatty acid and unsaponifiable fractions of the leaves, stems and roots of Arbutus unedo L. were determined using gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The fatty acid fractions of the leaves, stems and roots contained 38.5%, 31.3% and 14.1% palmitic acid, respectively, along with other long-chain fatty acids (up to C22). The chemical composition of the unsaponifiable fractions differed: the leaf and stem fractions contained high levels of aliphatic (32.1% and 62.6%, respectively) and terpenic compounds (49.6% and 25.7%, respectively), and the root fraction mainly contained esters, of which the most abundant was benzyl cinnamate (36.6%). The antimicrobial activities of the unsaponifiable fractions against nine species of microorganisms were assessed. The unsaponifiable leaf and stem extracts inhibited the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis and Candida albicans.