Chemical properties and antioxidant activity of essential oils of Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. and Chrysanthemum indicum L. in Vietnam

Abstract

In recent years, research into medicinal herbs with antioxidative activities has increased. Chrysanthemum morifolium and Chrysanthemum indicum are aromatic herb plants and that have long been used in traditional Vietnamese medicine. This study aims to evaluate the chemical compositions and antioxidative activities of essential oils hydrodistilled from the flower heads of C. morifolium and C. indicum. The chemical compositions of the essential oils were compared using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. The antioxidative activity was determined and evaluated spectroscopically by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, metal chelating activity, reducing power, and total antioxidant capacity assays. According to the GC/MS results, chrysanthenone was predominant in the essential oils of both C. morifolium (64.14%) and C. indicum (32.02%). This is the first report of the identification of chrysanthenone as a major constituent of the essential oil of C. morifolium. Both Chrysanthemum oils were also revealed to possess antioxidant potential, exhibiting high antioxidative activities. In particular, the DPPH radical scavenging activities of the C. morifolium and C. indicum oils at a concentration of 100 mg/mL were 76.9 and 83.2%, respectively. The metal chelating values of C. morifolium and C. indicum were 0.85 and 0.76, whereas the reducing power values of that at 100 mg/mL were 0.76 and 0.71, respectively. This study provides the chemical properties of the essential oils of both C. morifolium and C. indicum grown in Vietnam and their potential antioxidant capacity.