Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of The Essential Oils of Some Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

The present study was conducted to determine the chemical compositions and antioxidant activities of some essential oils of some medicinal and aromatic plants widely used in feed or food industry. The major compounds of the essential oils of cinnamon, cumin, laurel, mint, oregano, rosemary and sage are cinnamaldehyde propylene glycol acetal (41.50%), cuminaldehyde (44.01%), 1,8 cineole (39.55), (+) pullegon (67.80%), carvacrol (59.03%), 1,8 cineole (30.12%) and (+) camphor (17.15%), respectively. There were significant differences in the antioxidant activities of these essential oils (P<0.01). In terms of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, laurel essential oil (79.00%) demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity, followed by that from cumin (75.98%), oregano (75.81%), mint (69.49%), sage (69.01%), cinnamon (68.83%) and rosemary (63.88%). To conclude, the DPPH free radical scavenging activities of all essential oils from some medicinal and aromatic plant species are significantly greater than those of vitamin E and Trolox (P<0.01).

___

  • Carmona-Jimenez Y, Garcia-Moreno MV, Igartuburu JM, Barroso CG. 2014. Simplification of the DPPH assay for estimating the antioxidant activity of wine and by-products. Food Chemistry 165:198-204.
  • Cherrat L, Espina L, Bakkali M, Pagan R, Laglaoui A. 2014. Chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Mentha pulegium, lavandula stoeahas and Satureja calamintha Scheele essential oils and evaluation of their bactericidal effect in combined processes. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 22:221-229.
  • Dorman HJD, Peltoketo A, Hiltunenn R, Tikkanen MJ. 2003. Characterisation of the antioxidant properties of de-odourised aqueous extracts from selected Lamiaceae 200 herbs. Food Chemistry 83:255-262.
  • Dudonné S, Vitrac X, Coutiére P, Woillez M, Mérillon J-M. 2009. Comparative study of antioxidant properties and total phenolic content of 30 plant extracts of industrial interest using DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, Sod, and ORAC assays. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 57:1768-1774.
  • El-Ghorab AH. 2006. The chemical composition of Mentha pulegium L. essential oil from Egypt and its antioxidant activity. Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants 9:183-195.
  • Embuscado ME. 2015. Spices and herbs:Natural sources of antioxidants-a mini review. Journal of Functional Foods 18:811-819. doi:10.1016/j.jff.2015.03.005.
  • Fu Y, Zu Y, Chen L, Shi X, Wang Z, Sun S, Efferth T. 2007. Antimicrobial activity of clove and rosemary essential oils alone and in combination. Phytotherapy Research 21:989-994.
  • Gachkar L, Yadegari D, Rezaei MB, Taghizadeh M, Astaneh SA, Rasooli I. 2007. Chemical and biological characteristics of Cuminum cyminum and Rosmarinus officinalis essential oils. Food Chemistry 102:898-904.
  • García CC, Talarico L, Almeida N, Colombres S, Duschatzky C, Damonte EB. 2003. Virucidal activity of essential oils from aromatic plants of San Luis, Argentina. Phytotherapy Research 17:1073-1075.
  • Kamkar A, Javan AJ, Asadi F, Kamalinejad M. 2010. The antioxidative effect of Iranian Mentha pulegium extracts and essential oil in sunflower. Food and Chemical Toxicology 48:1796-1800.
  • Kotan R, Kordali S, Çakır A. 2007. Screening of antibacterial activities of twenty-one oxgenated monoterpenes. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung C 62:507-513.
  • Lu M, Yuan B, Zeng M, Chen J. 2011. Antoxidant capacity and major phenolic compounds of spices commonly consumed in China. Food Research International 44:530-536.
  • Luis JC, Johnson CB. 2005. Seasonal variations of rosmarinic and carnosic acids in rosemary extracts. Analysis of their in vitro antiradical activity. Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research 3(1):106-112.
  • Mata AT, Proença C, Ferreira AR, Serralheiro MLM, Nogueria JMF, Araújo MEM. 2007. Antioxidant and antiacetylcholinesterase activities of five plants used as Portuguese food spices. Food Chemistry 103:778-786.
  • Matan N, Rimkeeree H, Mawson AJ, Chompreeda P, Haruthaithansan V, Parker M. 2006. Antimicrobial activity of cinnamon and clove oils under modified atmosphere conditions. International Journal of Food Microbiology 107:180-185.
  • Moghtader M, Afzali D. 2009. Study of the antimicrobial properties of the essential oil of rosemary. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences 5(3):393-397.
  • Muchuweti M, Kativu E, Mupure CH, Chidewe C, Ndhlala AR, Benhura MAN. 2007. Phenolic composition and antioxidant properties of some spices. American Journal of Food Technology 2(5):414-420.
  • Prasad KN, Yang B, Dong X, Jiang G, Zhang H, Xie H, Jiang Y. 2009. Flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities from Cinnamomum species. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 10:627-632.
  • Politeo O, Jukić M, Miloš M. 2006. Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oils of twelve spice plants. Croatica Chemica Acta 79(4):545-552.
  • Reichling J, Schnitzler P, Suschke U, Saller R. 2009. Essential oils of aromatic plants with antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and cytotoxic properties-An Overview. Forschende Komplementärmedizin 16:79-90.
  • SAS, 1989. SAS/STAT User's Guide AS/STAT User's Guide (Release 6.03 Edition) SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC, USA.
  • Sacchetti G, Maietti S, Muzzoli M, Scaglianti M, Manfredini S, Radice M, Bruni R. 2005. Comparative evaluation of 11 essential oils of different origin as functional antioxidants, antiradicals and antimicrobials in foods. Food Chemistry 91:621-632.
  • Sangun MK, Aydın E, Timur M, Karadeniz H, Çalışkan M, Özkan A. 2007. Comparison of chemical composition of the essential oil of Laurus nobilis L. Leaves and fruits from different regions of Hatay, Turkey. Journal of Environmental Biology 28(4):731-733.
  • Shahidi F, Naczk M. 2004. Phenolics in food and nutraceuticals. CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida 33431. Print ISBN 1-58716-138-9.
  • Stefanovits-Bányai É, Tulok MH, Hegedüs A, Renner C, Varga IS. 2003. Antioxidant effect of various rosemary (Rosmarinıs officinalis L.) clones. Acta Biologica Szegediensis 47:11-113. Su L, Yin J-J, Charles D, Zhou K, Moore J, Yu L. 2007. Total phenolic contents, chelating capacities, and radical-scavening properties of black peppercorn, nutmeg, rosehip, cinnamon and oregano leaf. Food Chemistry 100: 990-997. Sukutta U, Haruthaithansan V, Chantarapanont W, Dilokkunanant U, Suppakul P. 2008. Antifungal activity of clove and cinnamon oil and their synergistic aganist postharvest decay fungi of grape in vitro. Kasetsart Journal (Natural Science) 42:169-174.
  • Soycan-Onenç S, Akkan S. 2009. The effects of some aromatic plants on rumen volatile fatty acids. V. National Animal Nutrition Congress 30 September-3 October Çorlu-Tekirdağ, p. 202-207.
  • Stoyanova A, Georgie V, Kula J, Majda T. 2005. Chemical composition of the essential oil of Mentha pulegium from Bulgaria. Journal of Essential Oil Research 17:475-477.
  • USP, 1995. The U.S. Pharmacopeia National Formularty. USP 23 NF 18, p.1755.
  • Tomaino A, Cimino F, Zimbalatti V, Venuti V, Sulfaro V, De Pasquale A, Saija A. 2005. Influence of heating on antioxidant activity and the chemical composition of some spice essential oils. Food Chemistry 89:549-554.
  • Ünlü M, Ergene E, Vardar-Ünlü G, Sivas-Zeytinoğlu H, Vural N. 2010. Composition, antimicrobial activity and in vitro cytotoxicity of essential oil from Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume (Lauraceae). Food Chemistry Toxicology 48:3274-3280.
  • Verma RS, Sashidhara KV, Yadav A. 2010. Essential oil composition of ‘blue flower rosemary’ (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) from subtropical India. Acta Pharmaceutica Sciencia 52:427-430.
  • Wei G-J, Ho C-T. 2006. A stable quinone identified in the reaction of carnosol, a major antioxidant in rosemary, with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical. Food Chemistry 96:471-476.