Antifungal Activity of the Volatiles of High Potency Cannabis sativa L. Against Cryptococcus neoformans

The n-hexane extracted volatile fraction of high potency Cannabis sativa L (Cannabaceae) . was assessed in vitro for antifungal, antibacterial and antileishmanial activities. The oil exhibited selective albeit modest, antifungal activity against Cryptococcus neoformans with an IC 50 value of 33.1 µg/mL. Biologically-guided fractionation of the volatile fraction resulted in the isolation of three major compounds (1-3) using various chromatographic techniques. The chemical structures of the isolated compounds were identified as α-humulene (1), b -caryophyllene (2) and caryophyllene oxide (3) using GC/FID, GC/MS, 1D- and 2D-NMR analyses, respectively. Compound 1 showed potent and selective antifungal activity against Cryptococcus neoformans with IC 50 and MIC values of 1.18 m g/mL and 5.0 m g/mL respectively. Whereas compound 2 showed weak activity (IC 50 19.4 µg/mL), while compound 3 was inactive against C. neoformans.