Analysis and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oils and Methanol Extracts of <i>Origanum floribundum</i> Munby
Naima Hadjadj, Mohamed Hazzit
Abstract
Methanolic extracts (MEs) and essential oils (EOs) of the aerial parts of two samples of the Algerian endemism Origanum floribundum Munby collected at the beginning of the leafing stage from two different sites were analyzed by RP-HPLC and by GC and GC/MS respectively. They have also been evaluated for their antioxidant activities by the reducing potential and scavenging of radicals DPPH• and ABTS•+. Although the two essential oils have in common p-cymene (60.7-73.4 %) as the most predominant compound, they showed several qualitative and quantitative differences. The MEs analysis identified ten compounds consisting of six phenolic acids and four flavonoids, the most important being rosmarinic acid, salysilic acid and vitexin. The EO and ME of the sample collected from Chrea (OFC) showed more efficient antioxidant activity than those of the Hammam Melouane sample (OFHM). This efficiency was related to the chemical composition of each sample.