Antioxidant Activity and Chemical Composition of Essential Oil from Atriplex undulata

Abstract

The essential oil from aerial parts (stems and leaves) of Atriplex undulata (Moq) D. Dietr. (Chenopodiaceae) has been studied for it in vitro antioxidant activity. The chemical composition of the oil obtained by hydrodistillation was determined by GC and GC-MS. The major constituents resulted to be p-acetanisole (28.1 %), β-damascenone (9.3 %), β-ionone (5.1 %), viridiflorene (4.7 %) and 3-oxo-α-ionol (2.2 %). The antioxidant activity of the oil was determined by two methods: Crocin bleaching inhibition (Krel= 0.72 ± 0.15) and scavenging of the DPPH radical (IC50 = 36.25 ± 1.63 g/ml). The presence of active compounds like p-acetanisole, carvone, vanillin, 4-vinylguaiacol, guaiacol, terpinen-4-ol and α- terpineol could explain the antioxidant activity observed for this oil.