Studies on the antioxidant activity of the volatile and non volatile compounds isolated from Eucalyptus globules leaves

ABSTRACT

The Eucalyptus globules leaves were subjected to hydrodistillation for 8 hoursusing a Clevenger type apparatus; the yield of the obtained essential oil wasabout 0.6%. The residue of the leaves was subjected to sequential extractionwith n-hexane, dichloromethane and ethanol. Each extract was reduced byevaporation to a standard volume then stored in a dark container at 5 deguntil work up. The antioxidant activity of each extract and of the essentialoil was determined using the reducing power test and the thiobarbituric acidmethod. The ethanol extract had the highest reducing power compared with theother extracts, and with butylated hydroxy toluene [BHT] and butylated hydroxyanisole [BHA]. Each extract was fractionated using column chromatography. Evaluation of the most active fraction was carried out, in addition tocharacterization of the major fractions