ABSTRACT
Oregano [Origanum vulgare L.] is one of the most selled culinary and medicinal herb throughout the world. Flowering aerial parts and leaves of oregano have been used as a popular flavoring of food stuffs and as an antioxidant agent in cosmetics. Oregano contains a wide array of active components, including flavonoids, phenolic acids and glucosides, phenols and triterpenes. Several biological activities namely antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antidiabetic, antispasmodic, antimelanogenesis and antiproliferative have been demonstrated for oregano-based essential oils and extracts. Among the main bioactive constituents of these products, the phenols carvacrol and thymol, and the phenolic rosmarinic acid and origanoside proved to be strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective agents
ABSTRACT
St. John's Wort [Hypericum perforatum L.], as the most important species of the genus, has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years. Recently, the plant compounds are used to treat mild and moderate depression around the world. This study identified the constituents of essential oil and total phenolic compounds and also antioxidant activity of methanol extract of H. perforatum collected from wildly growing area in the north of Iran [Tonecabon, Mazandaran province]. Essential oil was extracted by hydro-distillation of air dried flowering shoots using Clevenger apparatus. The essential oils were analyzed by both gas chromatography [GC] and gas chromatography - mass spectrometry [GC-MS]. Total phenolic compounds in the methanol [80%] extract were determined according to the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent using tannic acid as standard. Antioxidant activity of extract was also evaluated by DPPH free radical method. Monoterpens [25.63%] were found to be the major fraction of the oil and alpha- Pinene [21.88%] was found to be the most abundant compound, followed by nonane [9.77%], n- octane [9.13%] and dodecanol [6.80%]. In addition, the results indicated total phenol content [50 microg gallic acid equivalent/g] and antioxidant activity [34. 37 microg/ml] of methanolic extract. alpha- Pinene was the major constituent of essential oil of H. perforatum tested sample and its methanol extract contained the high amount of total phenolic compounds and consequently exhibited a considerable antioxidant activity
Subject(s)
Antioxidants , Medicine, Traditional , Plants, Medicinal , Plant Extracts , Plant OilsABSTRACT
Essential oils contain a large variety of volatile secondary metabolites such as terpenes, terpenoides, phenolic and aliphatic derivative. Nowadays, These compounds extensively used inPharmaceutical, sanitary and cosmetic industries. Antimicrobial activity of these oils and their components such as alpha-pinene and beta-pinene, the main essential oil constituent of some Hypericum spp., have been reported. This study was conducted to identify the constituents of essential oil in three Hypericum species in Iran to compare differences among their major volatile constituents. Essential oils were extracted by hydro-distillation of fresh plant materials using Clevenger apparatus. The essential oils were analyzed by both gas chromatography [GC] and gas chromatography ?mass spectrometry [GC-MS]. Monoterpens were found as the major constituent of essential oil in H. perforatum L. and H. patulum Thunb. However, n-alkans were the major constituent of the oil in H. tetrapterum Frise. In this study, alpha-Pinene [21.88%] was found to be the most abundant compound in the H. perforatum whilst beta- Pinene [30.20%] and n-undecane [30.84%] were the main constituents of H. patulum and H. tetrapterum essential oils respectively. In this study, we found that the different plant species made a remarkable difference in the essential oil constituents. In this study the most component of essential oils of H. perforatum and H. patulum were alpha-Pinene and beta-Pinene respectively and this component can be make them promising for treatment of infectious diseases such as infectious endocarditis