Volatiles profiling and antioxidant activity of Moroccan Artemisia ifranensis J. Didier and Anacyclus pyrethrum Link essential oils

Abstract

Moroccan indigenous and spontaneous medicinal plants have been widely used to treatment of a number of diseases. Volatile compounds mixtures isolated from leaves and roots respectively of Artemisia ifranensis and Anacyclus pyrethrum species, by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by (GC/FID) and (GC/MS). Oils chemical profile of plant species showed the presence of major compounds among the identified constituents, this is respectively β-thujone (41.12 %) and spathulenol (16.9 %). Essential oils studied are screened also for their, in vitro, antioxidant activity by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. The noted results reported that Artemisia ifranensis essential oil exhibited promising antioxidant profile, and revealed an antioxidant property more important (IC50 = 5.9 mg/ml) than that of ascorbic acid used in food and pharmaceutical industries (IC50 = 8.09 mg/ml). This essence can be considered as a valuable source of natural antioxidants. Hence, oil of A. pyrethrum has a low efficient antioxidant potency (IC50 values 30.05 mg/ml), compared to the tested samples. The results supported the traditional usage and also possible use of plants volatile oils in combination with other preservatives to protect food materials against a variety of oxidative systems, in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.