Chemical composition and biological activities of an essential oil from the aerial parts of weber ex Stechm.

The aerial parts of Weber ex Stechm were collected from the northeast of China. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC-MS. A set of 66 compounds were identified representing 99.1% of the oil composition. The major compounds in the oil were cyclobutaneethanol, endo-borneol, germacrene D, eucalyptol, selin-6-en-4-ol, bisabolone oxide A, caryophyllene and terpinen-4-ol. Moreover, the essential oil was evaluated for its antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anticholinesterase activities . Additionally, the antioxidant potential of the oil was evaluated using DPPH and ABTS assays. The oil showed good antidiabetic activity with an IC of 63.2 µg/mL, which was similar to that of the positive control acarbose, and weak anticholinesterase activities. These findings demonstrated that the essential oil of may be a good natural antidiabetic.