Abstract
Cinnamon is an evergreen tree belonging to the genus Cinnamomun; it is commonly founded in various tropical countries, consisting of more than 250 species of trees and shrubs in the Lauraceae family. This plant has had great medicinal importance in traditional medicine since ancient times. In this research, the chemical composition of the essential oil of Cinnamomum zeylanicum Nees was evaluated. The samples were extracted from the leaves and stem. The main components founded from the leaves were: Benzyl benzoate (74.2%), α-felandrene (6.9%), α-pinene (3.0%), and linalool (2.7%). Cinnamaldehyde (31%), linalool (13.3%), benzyl benzoate (11.3%), and cinnamaldehyde acetate (8.2%) stood out in the essential oil of the stem. The antioxidant activity was determined by the DPPH method, obtaining an inhibition percentage for concentrations of 80 ig mL-1, 59.17 ± 0.11% for the leaves and 61.34 ± 0.11% for the stem. Key words: Benzyl benzoate, medicinal plant, cinnamon, free radicals.
Highlights
Cinnamomum zeylanicum is a tropical and subtropical climate plant, belonging to the Lauraceae family; it consisted of 49 genera, and has over 3,000 species (Marques, 2001)
The essential oil was separated from the hydrolate and stored in an amber bottle and refrigerated until the different analyses were carried out; a part of the essential oil was sent to the Chemistry Department of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), where the chromatography and another part of the oil was used to carry out the analysis of antioxidant activity at the Analytical Center of NPPGCT of Federal University of Roraima (UFRR)
In the essential oil extracted from the cinnamon leaves, the main component was ethyl benzoate with 74.2%, followed by α- phellandrene with 6.9%, α -pinene with 3.0% and linalool with 2.7%
Summary
Cinnamomum zeylanicum is a tropical and subtropical climate plant, belonging to the Lauraceae family; it consisted of 49 genera, and has over 3,000 species (Marques, 2001). Throughout history, China has acknowledge the importance of the species for since 2,500 years B. C. The Egyptians used it to embalm the dead; in the 18th century, it spread throughout the world: it was used for flavor, perfume and applied in white. Cinnamon essential oil has been known for its abundance in secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds including eugenol found between 4 and 10%; aldehydes such as cinnamaldehyde found between 6075%. The latter compound gives flavor to the cinnamon (Sesanayake and Wijesekera, 2004)
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