Repellent activities of essential oil from Rosmarinus officinalis on Aedes albopictus and its chemical constituents

Key Words：Rosmarinus officinalis, essential oil, GC/MS, Aedes albopictus, repellence

Abstract：        The effectiveness of essential oils from the stems and leaves of Rosmarinus officinalis L. as repellents of Aedes albopictus Skuse mosquito was assessed. Essential oils were extracted by steam distillation and supercritical CO2 extraction from plants growing in Yunnan Province and their chemical constituents isolated and identified using GC/MS methods. The results show that essential oils extracted by supercritical CO2 extraction were effective for sufficiently long (5.82±1.13) h to meet the public health insecticide B-standard for repellents. The active chemicals were (+)-Limonene、D-(+)-camphor、Eucalyptol、(+)-4-Carene、1-methyl-4-(1-methylethylidene)-cyclohexene. Beta-pinene were  the major constituent of the essential oils extracted by either method. The results show that R. officinalis has potential as a commercial source of mosquito repellent.