Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oil and aqueous extract of Pelargonium graveolens L'Her.

Abstract

Pelargonium graveolens L'Her is an aromatic, rose-scented herb which is indigenous to various parts of southern Africa, and nowadays cultivated worldwide. The whole plant has relaxant, anti-depressant and antiseptic effects, reduces inflammation and controls bleeding. The essential oil from the leaves is used in aromatherapy and is also applied locally to cervical cancer [1]. This work presents the first phytochemical investigation of P. graveolens of Bosnian origin. The essential oil as well as waste water after hydrodistillation from stems and leaves of P. graveolens was studied. The volatile profile of odorous parts of the plant was analyzed by GC/MS. More than eighty compounds were identified in both samples, representing 92.3% and 96.4% in total, for essential oil obtained from the leaves and stems, respectively. The major compounds in essential oils were oxygenated monoterpenes (64.3–74.2%), with geraniol (27.5–50.2%) and citronellol (14.2–19.0%) as the main representatives. Our results are comparable with those found in the literature [2–3]. The content of phenolic compounds in a water extract was examined by a slightly modified Folin-Ciocalteu method [4] and was 34.88±2.00mg/g GAE in leaves and 102.44±1.63mg/g GAE in stems including flavonoid compounds of 32.35±0.81mg/g to 101.87±1.03mg/g GAE. The radical scavenging activity was measured by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method [5]. Scavenging activities indicated as IC50 values ranged from 0.19±0.05mg/mL (stems) to 0.39±0.04mg/mL (leaves) for essential oils, and from 63.70±1.56mg/mL (leaves) to 64.88±1.12mg/mL (stems). Our findings are in agreement with those found in literature [6].