Volume 8 | Issue - 8
Volume 8 | Issue - 8
Volume 8 | Issue - 8
Volume 8 | Issue - 7
Volume 8 | Issue - 7
Schinus molle L., commonly known as the false pepper tree, belongs to the Anacardiaceae family. Essential oils extracted from the leaves and seeds of the plant using hydrodistillation revealed differences in composition compared to the hydrosol extract obtained via liquid-liquid extraction. The yields for the essential oils (leaves, seeds) and hydrosol extract were 1.62%, 2.78%, and 0.196%, respectively. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis identified 75 compounds in the leaf oils and 63 in the seed oils in the leaf and seed essential oils, respectively. The major compounds in the leaf essential oils include α Phellandrene (20.45%), β-Phellandrene (13.68%), Dehydroxy-Isocalamendiol (11.66%), (-)-Germacrene D (8.93%) and δ- Cadinene (5.46%). For the seed essential oils, the main components were α-Phellandrene (31.21%), β Phellandrene (23.64%), β-Myrcene (7.8%), Dehydroxy-Isocalamendiol (4.82%) and δ-Cadinene (4.60%). The analysis of the hydrosol extract was analyzed separately by GC-MS for the first time and identified 52 compounds, with major components including δ-Cadinene (9.45%), α-Cadinol (7.13%), Elemol (6.28%), cis-Sabinol (5.89%), α-Eudesmol (5.15%), τ-Muurolol (5.10%). (-)-Germacrene D (4.80%), 2,6 di-tert-butyl-4-methyl-phenol (4.56%) and D-Limonene (4.14%). Antioxidant activity evaluation using three chemical methods revealed remarkable free radical scavenging and reducing capacities. The leaf essential oils showed the highest activity in DPPH tests (2.605 µg/ml to scavenge 50% of free radicals), although lower than vitamin C and FRAP tests (EC50 of 7.48 10-4µg/ml), with competitive CAT results. The seed essential oils, while less effective than the leaf oils, exhibited high efficiency in the CAT method (1.635 mg/g) and closely matched vitamin C in FRAP tests.