Volatile Components and Antioxidant Effect of Essential Oil of Anthemis mauritiana Maire & Sennen Flowers

The volatile components isolated from flowers of Anthemis mauritiana have been studied. The
essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and by micro steam distillation and analysis were performed by GC/MS. The main constituents of the essential oil obtained by both methods were α-pinene, β-pinene, β-myrcene, γ-terpinene respectively by hydrodistillation and micro steam distillation.
The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation was also subjected to screening for its possible
antioxidant activity by using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The best result was obtained at a dose of 100μg/ml with an inhibition of 37.80 ± 0.24 %, this activity was less effective than the synthetic BHT with 56.59 ± 0.43% at the same dose.