Anti-oxidant Activity and Major Chemical Component Analyses of Twenty-Six Commercially Available Essential Oils

This study analyzed 26 commercially available essential oils and their major chemical components to determine their antioxidant activity levels by measuring their total phenolic content (TPC), reducing power (RP), β-carotene bleaching (BCB) activity, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging (DFRS) ability. The clove bud and thyme borneol essential oils had the highest RP, BCB activity levels, and TPC values among the 26 commercial essential oils. Furthermore, of the 26 essential oils, the clove bud and ylang ylang complete essential oils had the highest TEAC values, and the clove bud and jasmine absolute essential oils had the highest DFRS ability. At a concentration of 2.5 mg/mL, the clove bud and thyme borneol essential oils had RP and BCB activity levels of 94.56% ± 0.06% and 24.64% ± 0.03% and 94.58% ± 0.01% and 89.33% ± 0.09%, respectively. At a concentration of 1 mg/mL, the clove bud and thyme borneol essential oils showed TPC values of 220.00 ± 0.01 and 69.05 ± 0.01 mg/g relative to gallic acid equivalents, respectively, and the clove bud and ylang ylang complete essential oils had TEAC values of 809.00 ± 0.01 and 432.33 ± 0.01 μM, respectively. The clove bud and jasmine absolute essential oils showed DFRS abilities of 94.13% ± 0.01% and 78.62% ± 0.01%, respectively. Phenolic compounds of the clove bud, thyme borneol and jasmine absolute essential oils were eugenol (76.08%), thymol (14.36%) and carvacrol (12.33%), and eugenol (0.87%), respectively. The phenolic compounds in essential oils were positively correlated with the RP, BCB activity, TPC, TEAC, and DFRS ability.