Assessment of in vitro antioxidant activity of essential oil of Eucalyptus citriodora (lemon-scented Eucalypt; Myrtaceae) and its major constituents

We investigated the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Eucalyptus citriodora (lemon-scented eucalyptus) leaf oil in terms of total antioxidant activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, ferrous ion chelating activity, and scavenging of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH center dot) radicals and inhibition of lipid peroxidation. GC-MS analysis of essential oil revealed the presence of 43 components constituting 99.2% of oil. The oil was monoterpenoid (94.35% of oil) with citronellal (60.66%), beta-citronellol (12.58%) and isopulegol (8.19%) as the major monoterpenoids. Oil and its major monoterpenes exhibited moderate to strong antioxidant activity in terms of TAA, FRAP and Fe+2 chelating, DPPH center dot and H2O2 scavenging, and lipid peroxidation inhibition. The study concludes that E. citriodora leaves contain monoterpenoid rich oil exhibiting antioxidant activity. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.