Antioxidant activity of the essential oil of citrus limon before and after its encapsulation in amorphous SiO2

Louiza Himed,Malika Barkat,Joaquín Coronas,Rebeca Monteagudo-Olivan,Salah Merniz

doi:10.1016/j.sciaf.2019.e00181

Louiza Himed, Malika Barkat + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2019.e00181

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Abstract

In recent years, the consumer demand for natural ingredients has resulted in sustained growth in the global market of essential oils. Indeed, essential oils are considered today as a product "trend" to the general public, which in particular raises considerable appeal from the agro-food sector. However, this application sector has to face many disadvantages related to the variability of their composition, and their volatility and storage instability. The objective of this work was to extract the essential oil of Citrus limon, determine its chemical composition, evaluate its antioxidant activity and see the effect of its encapsulation on such activity. The cold pressing of the lemon peel yielded 1.24±0.07% of the essential oil. This oil was characterized by a composition rich in limonene (67.1%) followed by α-pinene (11.0%) and α-terpinene (8.0%).The antioxidant activity of the oil expressed by the antiradical power DPPH and by the reducing power CUPRAC gave rise to results comparable to that of the standards. The encapsulation of this oil in silica did not modify its antioxidant activity. The thermogravimetric analysis showed a weak thermal estabilization of the encapsulated oil compared to the free oil. FTIR-ATR showed that the encapsulation did not alter the composition of the oil.

Highlights

Essential oils are liquids concentrated in molecules derived from plant metabolism
The objective of this work is initially to extract the essential oil from Citrus limon (Eureka variety) by cold pressing and to characterize it by Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS)
The essential oil was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored in glass vials covered by aluminum foil at 4 °C

Summary

Introduction

Essential oils are liquids concentrated in molecules derived from plant metabolism (terpenoid and aromatic molecules). They are very popular in perfumery and cosmetics, as well as in the food and pharmaceutical industries [1]. The market dynamics of essential oils is supported by an ever increasing demand for natural ingredients. This pushes manufacturers in the cosmetics and perfume sector to further integrate essential oils in their formulations. The substitution of a synthetic product with an essential oil increases the added value of a given formulation [2].

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