chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oil and organic extracts of premna integrifolia linn

ABSTRACT This study was designed to examine the chemical composition and in vitro antioxidant activity of the hydrodistillated essential oil and various extracts obtained from Premna integrifolia Linn. GC-MS analysis of the essential oil was resulted in determination 29 different compounds, representing 95.73% of total oil. Antioxidant activities of the essential oil and organic extracts of chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol were determined by three different test systems namely DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), superoxide and nitric oxide radical scavenging assays. The essential oil and methanol extract showed potent antioxidant activity among all the tested samples. Furthermore, the amount of total phenolic compounds was determined and its content in methanol extract was the highest as compared to other samples. The results indicate that the essential oil and extracts of Premna integrifolia could serve as an important bio-resource of antioxidants for using in the pharmaceutical industries.