CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF ESSENTIAL OILS EXTRACTED FROM “EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS”

Marianne Haddad*, Zeinab Khalifeh, Elena Krivoruchko and Hussein Kanaan

ABSTRACT

Objective: To compare the chemical composition and the antioxidant capacities of Essential Oil extracted from Lebanese Eucalyptus Globulus leaves and flowers. Materials and Methods: The Essential Oils were extracted by Hydrodistillation procedure using a Clevenger apparatus. The chemical composition was determined by Gas Chromatography/ mass spectrometry analysis. The antioxidant effect of Essential Oils was tested using DPPH method. Results: The yield of Essential oil was 0.13% and 0.21% for Eucalyptus Globulus leaves and flowers, respectively. Results showed a difference in the composition between the oil extracts with a marked difference in the relative abundance of the components. A total of 24 and 53 compounds were, respectively, identified in the leaves’ and the flowers’ oil extracts. Among them, only 12 compounds were common between the two oil extracts, including “Eucalyptol” which was the most abundant component reaching 83.151 % in the leaves’ and 15.337 % in the flowers’ oil extract, respectively. Both leaves’ and flowers’ Essential Oils were shown to have an antioxidant effect with a concentration dependent manner. The maximal scavenging activities obtained reached 22.55% and 90.02% with the leaves’ and flowers’oils, respectively. Conclusion: Essential Oils extracted from Eucalyptus Globulus leaves and flowers shows high variability in their composition, in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Essential Oils show concentration dependent antioxidant activities with the highest activity for the flowers’ extract. This, therefore, makes the Lebanese Eucalyptus Globulus Essential oils, especially those of the flowers, potential natural antioxidant candidates of great interest in the field of therapeutics.

Keywords: Eucalyptus Globulus, Lebanon, Essential oil, Leaves, Flowers, Antioxidant activity.