Abstract:In order to improve the antibacterial ability of the vapour phase of cinnamon essential oil, the inhibitory effects of the aromatic vapours generated by four kinds of cinnamon essential oil vapour-producing methods against Staphylococcus albicans were investigated. It was found that the influences of the vapour-producing methods on the antibacterial effects followed a certain trend. Among them, the order of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was as follows: spray atomization > water bath heating > natural volatilization > combustion; and the order of the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was: water bath heating > spray atomization > natural volatilization > combustion. The electronic nose technique was used to distinguish the gas components at the minimum bactericidal concentrations of the four kinds of vapour-producing methods. Headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to analyze further the compositions of the aromatic vapours. The results showed that the relative contents of the components detected in the vapours generated by different vapour-producing methods differed greatly. Among them, 15 kinds of components with their relative contents higher than 1% were detected in the vapour produced by the water bath heating method, with the relative contents of individual terpenes up to 29.76%; the spray atomization forced the generation of cinnamaldehyde at a higher relative content (up to 74.26%). It can be seen that when the vapour-producing method applied to cinnamon essential oil was changed, the composition of the gas aromatic vapour was altered, which affected the subsequent antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus albicans. Among them, spray atomization exhibited the greatest inhibitory effect, whilst the water bath heating method led to the greatest bactericidal effect.
