The objective of this work was to determine the chemical composition, the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the essential oils (EOs) extracted by hydrodistillation from different organs of the D. viscosa: flowers, leaves and aerial parts. The main compounds identified by GC/MS are oxygenated sesquiterpenes. Among these compounds, (E)-nerolidol (40.7%) is the most abundant constituent of flowers’ essential oil while caryophyllene oxide (9.9%), isolongifolan-7-α-ol (10.3%) and α -eudesmol (9.1%) are the major constituents of the leaves’ essential oil. The presence of these compounds in the aerial parts’ essential oil is solely due to those of the flowers and leaves that constitute these aerial parts. The volatile extracts showed antioxidant effects with IC₅₀ values ranging between 9.25 and 9.75 mg.mL⁻¹. On the other hand, EOs showed antibacterial effects on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The highest activity was obtained with flowers’ essential oil against Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli.

This work investigated the chemical composition of essential oils (EOs) obtained from the aerial parts of three Inula species of the Tunisian flora as well as their biological properties. Inula viscosa essential oil (IVEO) contained mainly α-costic acid (65.4%). The EOs of Inula graveolens (IGEO) and Inula crithmoides (ICEO) were characterized by high contents of p-cymene derivatives while ICEO stands out by high levels of modheph-2-ene (16.5%) and tiglic esters (14.1%). Moreover, a notable antioxidant power was proved by the ORAC test for the three EOs. Finally, the cytotoxic activity was evaluated on two healthy cell lines (CCD45-SK, HUVECs) and two cancer cell lines (HepG-2, MCF-7) and it appeared that the EOs were particularly effective on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells with LC₅₀ equal to 79, 16, and 63 µg. mL⁻¹ for IVEO, IGEO, and ICEO, respectively.

Using treated wastewater for irrigation is a good solution for conserving water, but it is also in part responsible for groundwater and water surface pollution by heavy metals, especially copper and cadmium. The soil can be a barrier to retaining these pollutants and protecting the water resource. This study presents an assessment of the adsorption of copper and cadmium by two agricultural soils from Tunisia and Romania to evaluate the risk of water pollution. At first, the two soils were characterized with a scanning electron microscope and different physico-chemical analyses. Before adsorption, the elemental analysis performed with an SEM showed a very low amount of cadmium and copper in both soils (0.01%). The Tunisian soil was considered clayey soil, and the Romanian soil was sandy clayey soil. All experimental kinetics and isotherms were well correlated (R² > 0.9) with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model and the modified and extended Redlich–Peterson binary adsorption model. For an initial concentration of both pollutants of 0.1 mmol·L⁻¹, the amounts retained and the adsorption percentage of copper and cadmium by the two soils indicate that the Romanian soil (q_Cu = 0.87 μmol·g⁻¹; % Cu = 98%; q_Cd = 0.88 μmol·L⁻¹; % Cd = 99%) retained both pollutants better than the Tunisian soil (q_Cu = 0.65 μmol·g⁻¹, %Cu = 83%; q_Cd = 0.73 μmol·g⁻¹; %Cd = 93%). Copper presents the greatest risk of water resource pollution, especially in Tunisia. The SEM confirmed the soil adsorption of Cu and Cd and estimated that the retention mechanisms of these two heavy metals are mainly related to the amount of phosphorus, chloride, sulfur and carbon by complexation and precipitation reactions.