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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Chem.
Sec. Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1539872
This article is part of the Research Topic Isolation, Structural Elucidation, and Biological Evaluation of Bioactive Products from Traditional Medicine-Volume II View all 3 articles

Molecular characterization, chemical profile and biological properties of essential oils from Chamaemelum nobile (L.) flowers of Morocco: in vitro and in silico studies

Provisionally accepted
El-assri El-mehdi El-assri El-mehdi 1*El-assri Youssef El-assri Youssef 2El Brahimi rajae El Brahimi rajae 1Mohamed El fadili Mohamed El fadili 3Asmae BAGHOUZ Asmae BAGHOUZ 4Hatem Abuelizz Hatem Abuelizz 5Er-rahmani Sara Er-rahmani Sara 6Lahkimi Amal Lahkimi Amal 2Bouia Abdelhak Bouia Abdelhak 1
  • 1 Laboratory of Biotechnology, Environment, Agri-Food and Health, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez,, fez, Morocco
  • 2 Laboratory of Engineering, Electrochemistry, Modeling and Environment, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, Fez 30050, Morocco, Fès, Morocco
  • 3 LIMAS laboratory, Department of chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez Morocco, Fès, Morocco
  • 4 Laboratory of Biotechnology, Conservation and Valorisation of Naturals Resources, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mehraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco, Fès, Morocco
  • 5 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 6 Department of Chemistry, Nis Interdepartmental Centre, University of Turin, Via P. Giuria 7, 10125, Turin, Italy, Turin, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant, antimicrobial and insecticidal properties of Chamaemelum nobile (L.) harvested in Taounate, Morocco, along with its molecular characterization and chemical profile. The volatile oil of the plant was extracted using a Clevenger apparatus. Analysis revealed that the essential oil from C. nobile (L.) (CN-EO) contained 24 components, with the most abundant being β-Oplopenone (18.66%), Spathulenol (14.90%), and Himachalene (12.47%). The CN-EO demonstrated significant antioxidant activity, as evidenced by an IC 50 value of 135.8 ± 1.03 μg/mL measured via the DPPH assay. Additionally, it exhibited potent antimicrobial properties, with inhibition diameters ranging from 20.67 ± 0.58 mm against Staphylococcus aureus to 10.33 ± 0.58 mm against Klebsiella pneumoniae using the disk diffusion method. Furthermore, the CN-EO proved effective in inhibiting the growth of various fungal strains, showing a strong inhibition percentage for Aspergillus flavus (40.42 ± 2.82 %) and a lower inhibition percentage for Fusarium oxysporum (22.45 ± 1.09 %). Moreover, CN-EO exhibited notable insecticidal properties, resulting in total insect mortality at concentrations of 16 µL/L after 48 hours of exposure. It also demonstrated a repellent effect with a rate of 60 %. Phylogenetic analysis of the DNA sequence revealed a 99.22 % similarity with C. nobile (L.). These results demonstrate the significant potential of Moroccan CN-EO for use in phytomedicine. It exhibits diverse biological activities and holds promise as a natural antioxidant, antimicrobial agent, antifungal, and insecticide.

    Keywords: Antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity, Chamaemelum nobile (L.), Essential oil, GC-MS, In silico studies

    Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 El-mehdi, Youssef, rajae, El fadili, BAGHOUZ, Abuelizz, Sara, Amal and Abdelhak. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: El-assri El-mehdi, Laboratory of Biotechnology, Environment, Agri-Food and Health, Faculty of Sciences Dhar El Mahraz, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez,, fez, Morocco

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.