DPPH scavenging, PRAP activities and essential oil composition of edible Lathyrus ochrus L. (Cyprus Vetch, Luvana) from Cyprus.

The essential oil of the aerial parts of edible Lathyrus ochrus L. was investigated by simultaneous GC, GC/MS analyses under the same conditions. Trace amount of oil (0.01> mL) obtained by hydro distillation of 200 g fresh plants was trapped in 1 mL n-hexane. Twenty components were detected representing 91.55 ± 0.56 % of the oil. The main components were phytol 49.39 ± 0.44 %, hexadecanoic acid 20.64 ± 0.89 % and pentacosane 4.20 ± 0.09 %. Essential oil solution (1% oil: n-hexane) afforded similar DPPH scavenging activity (9.28 ± 1.30 %) when compared with positive controls α-tocopherol (9.74 ± 0.21 %) and BHT (7.79 ± 0.26 %) at the same concentrations. Antioxidant activity of the oil was determined using a new HPTLC-PRAP assay. The oil afforded two fold higher reducing activity of phosphomolybdenum complex (594.85 ± 5.14 AU) when compared with positive controls α- tocopherol (271.10 ± 2.86 AU) and BHT (210.53 ± 1.81 AU) at the same concentration.