Antioxidant activity and characterization of essential oil from Vitex agnus-castus L.

Vitex agnus-castus L. is a plant of the family of Verbenaceae, common in the Mediterranean area and Africa, and it's used for a wide range of biological activities. This plant has a wide range of biological activities such as regulation of menstrual cycle, acne, cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells, diuretic, sedative, among others [1 – 3]. The sample was collected in Angola and it was air-dried before the extraction, the essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation for 2h, using a Clevenger-type apparatus with an yield of 1.6%. The chemical composition of the essential oil was determinate by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The identities of the oil components were established from their GC retention indices, relative to C7-C25 n-alkanes, and by comparison computer matching with the Wiley mass spectra library, whenever possible, by co-injection with standards available in the laboratory. The mains components were α-pinene (85.0%); β-pinene (1.3%); 1,8-cineole (1.7%); α-copaene (1.4%); caryophylene (2.9%); α-cadinene (1.8%); germacrene-D (2.2%) β-cadinene (2.0%) account 98.3% of all compounds. We evaluate the antioxidant activity of the essential oil using the colorimetric method of the DPPH [4]. The result suggests a strong antioxidant activity for this species with an IC₅₀ = 21.31 ± 0.819 and AAI = 1.848.

Keywords: Vitex agnus-castus L., essential oil, hydrodistillation, antioxidant activity