Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of The Essential Oils of Some Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

The present study was conducted to determine the chemical compositions and antioxidant activities of some essential oils of some medicinal and aromatic plants widely used in feed or food industry . The major compounds of the essential oils of cinnamon, cumin, laurel, mint, oregano, rosemary and sage are cinnamaldehyde propylene glycol acetal (41.50%), cuminaldehyde (44.01%), 1,8 cineole (39.55), (+) pullegon (67.80%), carvacrol (59.03%), 1,8 cineole (30.12%) and (+) camphor (17.15%), respectively. There were significant differences in the antioxidant activities of these essential oils (P<0.01). In terms of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl ( DPPH) assay, laurel essential oil (79.00%) demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity, followed by that from cumin (75.98%), oregano (75.81%), mint (69.49%), sage (69.01%), cinnamon (68.83%) and rosemary (63.88%). To conclude, the DPPH free radical scavenging activities of all essential oils from some medicinal and aromatic plant species are significantly greater than those of vitamin E and Trolox (P<0.01) .