Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Activities of Albizia lebbeck L. Essential Oils

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the chemical compositions and antioxidant activities of essential oils (EOs) from fresh and air-dried Albizia lebbeck. The EOs was extracted by hydro-distillation using the Clevenger apparatus and the identification and quantification of chemical constituents were done via GC/MS analysis. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method. A total of 98.58, 82.37, 46.65 and 98.69 % constituents respectively were identified in the EOs of fresh leaf, pod, stalk and twig of A. lebbeck while the air-dried leaf, pod, stalk and twig had a total of , 77.56, 83.86 and 83.66 % of constituents respectively identified. The IC50 values of the essential oils decreased as follows: BHA > air-dried-stalk > air-dried-pod > fresh-leaf > fresh-pod > fresh-stalk > fresh-twig > air-dried-twig > air-dried-leaf > α-Tocopherol. The essential oils showed considerable antioxidant activities when compared with the known antioxidants and this could be due to the synergetic effects of the identified essential oil components.