Chemical constituent of the essential oil and antioxidant activity of various extracts of Anthemis haussknechtii (Asteraceae) from Iran

Natural products have provoked interest for their potential uses as alternative sources for the preservation of foods from the toxic effects of oxidants [1, 2]. There is a popularity and scientific interest to screen essential oils and extracts of the plants for this purpose [3].

Anthemis haussknechtii is an annual native plant belongs to the family Asteraceae which growing wild in western and southern parts of Iran. The chemical composition of essential oil obtained by hydro-distillation from the aerial parts of the plant was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Twenty three compounds representing 98.0% of the total oil were identified. Germacrene D (17.6%), n-hexadecane (13.1%) and spathulenol (11.5%) were the predominant constituents of the oil.

Also the water-soluble (polar), water-insoluble (non-polar) and n-butanolic (semi-polar) subfractions of the methanol extract of A. haussknechtii were investigated for their possible antioxidant activity by using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The free radical scavenging activity of n-butanolic subfraction was superior to all other extracts (IC₅₀₌22.5µg/ml) that was comparable with standard antioxidant tert-butylated hydroxytoluene, BHT (IC₅₀₌23.7µg/ml). Total phenolic constituents of the aforementioned extracts were determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent and gallic acid as standard [4]. It is likely that the antioxidant activity of the examined extracts is due to the presence of polyphenolic compounds.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Shahid Beheshti University Research Council for financial support of this work.

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3. Salehi, P. et al. (2005) Biol. Pharm. Bull. 28:1892–1896.

4. Slinkard, K., Singleton, V.L. (1977) Am. J. Enol. Vitic. 28:49–55.