Essential Oil of Ipomoea carnea: Chemical Profile, Chemometric Analysis, Free Radical Scavenging, and Antibacterial Activities

Essential oils (EOs) have been reported as a promising group of naturally extracted compounds due to their various reported biological activities. Ipomoea carnea is a widely distributed plant with many traditional uses worldwide. However, although the EOs of various Ipomea species have been reported, I. carnea remains poorly studied. Therefore, the present investigation aimed to characterize the chemical profile of the EO of I. carnea growing in Egypt via gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and correlate its profile with other reported species via chemometric analysis using agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) and principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, the aim was to determine the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the extracted EO. Depending on the GC-MS analysis, 31 compounds were identified, mainly terpenes (94.82), with traces of carotenoid and apocarotenoid-derived compounds. The major compounds were tau-cadinol (35.68%), alpha-cadinol (26.76%), spathulenol (8.11%), and caryophyllene oxide (6.56%), which were assigned as major compounds. The chemometric studies showed that the Egyptian ecospecies of I. carnea differs in chemical profile from those growing in Brazil, as well as those reported for other Ipomea species. The EO showed significant DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging abilities, with IC50 values of 33.69 and 40.86 mg L-1, respectively. Additionally, the I. carnea EO displayed significant inhibition against the growth of all tested bacterial strains, where it showed an MIC range of 82-1442 mg mL(-1). Based on the current results, the I. carnea EO, particularly the major identified compounds, could be used as a potential eco-friendly green resource for antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Therefore, further study is recommended to evaluate the biological significance of the main compounds, either individually or in combination, as well as assess their modes of action and safety.