CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS, IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF SOME PLANT ESSENTIAL OILS BELONGING TO ROSACEAE FAMILY

Essential oils from Rosaceae family are a challenge for scientists because of their wide range of pharmacological activities. The purpose of the present work was to determine chemical composition and to compare antiradical and antifungal activities of 6 essential oils from Rosa genus growing in Bulgaria, Moldova and China, and some of their ingredients against Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger. All of the tested oils are citronellol-rich, except the one distillated from rose water, since it has been found that it contains the most n-nonadecane. The most active superoxide scavenger was the essential oil from hybrid of Rosa damascena IX-4 from Bulgaria, followed by Rosa rugosa Thunb. from China, and Bulgarian Rosa alba L. The results obtained showed bigger resistance of Aspergillus niger against rose oils in comparison to Aspergillus flavus.