Study On Annual Changes Of Santolina Essential Oil And Its Biological Activity Against Mosquitoes

Santolina chamaecyParissus L. is a traditional aromatic plant which has repellency against mosquitoes. Steam distillation was used to extract the essential oil from santolina, while GC and GC-MS were used to analyze its composition. Essential oils from lemongrass (CymboPogon citratus L.); sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.); and rosemary (Rosmarinus fficinalis L.) were used as a comparison to measure the biological activity against Aedes albopictus. The main research findings are as follows:(1) The average annual content of santolina essential oil is 1.06 mL/kg·FW, ranging from 0.56 to 2.07 mL/kg·FW, and the content during the florescence in June and July is highest.(2) The main components of santolina essential oil are artemisia ketone; vulgarone;β-Phellandrene; curcumene; myrcene; sabinene; and β-Pinene, accounting for 83.44 percent of the total content and 887.5μL/kg·FW in terms of absolute content.(3) The essential oil of lemongrass has the highest larvicidal activity in short time, while the santolina oil is of deadly effect even at low concentration. The fumigating activity against mosquito imago follows the order: lemongrass > santolina > rosemary > sweet basil.(4) The santolina essential oil has the repelling activities against mosquitoes only lower than lemongrass oil, and the action time is only shorter than sweet basil oil. Mixing reagents of lemongrass and sweet basil oil, santolina and lemongrass oil, have prominent repellency against mosquitoes.The consequence of annual changes of santolina essential oil and components would afford references to confirm the best harvest and take use of the compositions. The results of biological activities against mosquitoes of essential oils would afford basis data to research high efficient insecticide or culicifugem, and sustain the application of santolina in garden for repelling mosquitoes.