Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oil from aerial parts of Teucrium flavum L. subsp. flavum growing spontaneously in Tunisia

• Published in: Natural product research Vol. 29; no. 24; pp. 2336 - 2340
• Main Authors: Hammami, Saoussen, El Mokni, Ridha, Faidi, Khaled, Falconieri, Danilo, Piras, Alessandra, Procedda, Silvia, Mighri, Zine, El Aouni, Mohamed Hédi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 17.12.2015
• Subjects: aerial parts; antioxidant effects; Antioxidants - chemistry; Antioxidants - isolation & purification; essential oil; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; GC/MS; Lamiaceae; Molecular Structure; Oils, Volatile - chemistry; Plant Components, Aerial - chemistry; Plant Oils - chemistry; Sesquiterpenes - chemistry; Sesquiterpenes - isolation & purification; Teucrium - chemistry; Teucrium flavum L. subsp. flavum; Tunisia; α-humulene; β-caryophyllene; Tunisia; aerial parts; β-caryophyllene; antioxidant effects; α-humulene; Lamiaceae; essential oil; GC/MS; Teucrium flavum L. subsp. flavum
• ISSN: 1478-6419; 1478-6427
• DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2015.1010162

The objectives of this study were to chemically characterise and evaluate the antioxidant potential of the essential oil from Teucrium flavum L. subsp. flavum growing spontaneously in Tunisia. The volatile oil was extracted by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts in a Clevenger type apparatus. Forty constituents were identified via GC and GC-MS analysis. β-caryophyllene (32.5%) and α-humulene (17.8%) were the most abundant components. The evaluation of free radical scavenging activity using stable DPPH free radical showed that the volatile oil exhibits a moderate antioxidant activity and reduces DPPH to 50% at EC 50 value of 1230 μg mL − 1 .