Chemical Profiling and Antioxidant Activity of Wild and Cultivated Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) Essential Oil

Chemical profiling the sage essential oils (SEOs) from wild and cultivated (shaded or non-shaded) plants has been investigated. The yield of SEOs from wild plants (3.51 mL/100 g) was higher than that from cultivated plants(shaded plants: 3.20 mL/100 g and non-shaded plants: 2.56 mL/100 g).The main components of SEO from wild plants were cis-thujone (43.2%), camphor (17.6%), 1,8-cineole (13.8%), veridiflorol (3.8%) and borneol (3.4%).The chemical composition of SEO from cultivated plants included camphor > cis-thujone > 1,8-cineole. Net shading lowered the content of toxic cis-thujone in sage (23.5%) and is therefore recommended in order to achieve better quality of SEO compared to non-shaded plants (cis-thujone 28.3%).The thujone content of SEO from wild plants is much higher (43.2%), and this drastically reduces the quality of EO. Cultivated sage was found to have stronger antioxidant activity (shaded plants 6.16 mg/mL or non-shaded 7.49 & PLUSMN; 0.13 mg/mL) compared to wild sage plants (9.65 mg/mL). The isolated SEOs are good sources of natural antioxidants with potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Automated summary

Chemical composition of sage essential oils (SEOs) from wild and cultivated plants, with shading or not, was investigated. The yield of SEOs from wild plants (3.51 mL/100 g) was higher than that from cultivated plants (shaded plants: 3.20 mL/100 g and non-shaded plants: 2.56 mL/100 g). The main components of SEO from wild plants were cis-thujone, camphor, 1,8-cineole, veridiflorol, and borneol. Net shading decreased the content of toxic cis-thujone in sage and cultivated sage showed stronger antioxidant activity compared to wild sage plants.