Essential oil composition and antioxidant activities of the various extracts of Tanacetum sonbolii Mozaff. (Asteraceae) from Iran.

This study is designed to examine the chemical composition of the essential oil and antioxidant activities of the different extracts of Tanacetum sonbolii Mozaff. from Iran for the first time. The essential oil was isolated by hydrodistillation and its gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses resulted in the identification of 26 components, representing 96.5% of the oil. The major components were characterised to be α-cadinol (35.3%), globulol (20.1%) and 1,8-cineole (8.6%). Antioxidant activities of the various extracts of the plant were determined by two different test systems; 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene-linoleic acid. Also, their total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined. DPPH radical-scavenging activities of test samples followed the order water > chloroform > ethyl acetate > butanol > BHT > methanol. Moreover, the ethyl acetate extract showed better β-carotene bleaching capacity than the other extracts and the amount of total phenolics was very high in ethyl acetate extract.