Chemical composition and antioxidant activities of spices essential oils

Oxidative stress is one of the leading causes of several chronic disorders like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. It requires immediate natural measures for its prevention. This can be achieved with natural medicines including spices and their essential oils. Essential oils were extracted from commonly used Indian dietary spices viz. cinnamon, cumin, and Trigonella, and were evaluated for antioxidant activity. Cinnamon and cumin essential oil was extracted using Clevenger apparatus whereas trigonella seed oil was extracted through Soxhlet apparatus. Essential oils were characterized by GC-MS. The% radical scavenging activities of essential oils were assessed using DPPH and ABTS assays. The maximum yield of essential oil (4.35%) was obtained with trigonella seeds through the Soxhlet apparatus. The yield of essential oil extracted through the Clevenger apparatus was 2.75% and 1.53% for cinnamon and cumin, respectively. The presence of various phytocompounds of different essential oils was analyzed by GC-MS. The antioxidant results have shown that the maximum radical scavenging activity was recorded with cinnamon essential oil i.e., 83.82% (DPPH) and 90.54 % (ABTS). Cumin and trigonella essential oils have also shown significant antioxidant activity but were lower than cinnamon essential oil. Cinnamon essential oil exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. This may be attributed to the synergistic effect of its various phytocompounds. Therefore, cinnamon essential oil can be explored further for the development of natural antioxidant compounds.