Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activities of Leaf and Flower Essential Oils of Origanum onites L. Growing in Mount Ida-Turkey

Abstract

The chemical composition of leaf and flower essential oils of Origanum onites L. were analyzed using Thermo Scientific TSQ GC-MS/MS. Also, antioxidant activities of the leaf and flower essential oils were investigated by using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging activity and β-carotene linoleic acid assays. BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene) were used as standards. The essential oil yields of O. onites were 1.75 % for leaves, and 4.25 % for flowers. A total of twenty-three compounds representing 99.9 % of leaf oil and twenty-four compounds constituted 99.6 % of the flower oil were determined. Oxygenated monoterpenes were detected at a high percentage (69.2 %) in leaf essential oil and carvacrol (64.9 %) was determined as the main compound. Also, flower essential oil was dominated by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (73.5 %) and α-cubebene (36.4 %) was determined as major compound. For leaf oil, a high antioxidant capacity was determined, primarily due to carvacrol and p-cymene.