Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of the essential oil of Artemisia alba Turra

Abstract

The essential oil of the fresh plant material of Artemisia alba Turra (collected in Dimitrovgrad, Serbia) was hydrodistilled using a Clevenger-type apparatus and the obtained essential oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The yield of the essential oil was 0.057%, w/w (based on the weight of fresh plant material). Two hundred and eleven different constituents were identified in the volatile fraction of A. alba amounting to 98.3% of the total oil. The major volatiles detected were germacrene D (27.8%), trans-p-mentha-2,8-dien-1-ol (13.3%), an isomer of santalone (7.8%) and 1,8-cineole (5.6%). The antioxidant activity was screened using two different tests: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay (DPPH) [1] and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical cation decolorization assay (ABTS) [2] and the results were quantified as Trolox equivalents (TE) per milligram of the essential oil weight. The antioxidant activity determined by the DPPH assay was 23.3 μg TE/mg of the essential oil, whereas ABTS was 4.5 μg TE/mg of the essential oil. Double bonds existing in the dominant compounds of the essential oil (germacrene D, trans-p-mentha-2,8-dien-1-ol) could potentially be free radical binders, which can explain the scavenging activity of the essential oil by free radical inhibition.