Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Properties of Juniperus Communis L. Commercial Essential Oils from Two Regions in North Macedonia

Juniperus communis L. (common juniper) is the most exploitable species from the genus Juniperus (Cupressaceae). Essential oil (EO) obtained from ripe, non-fermented berry cones is official according to the monograph in the European Pharmacopeia (Ph. Eur.10), where 1% is the minimum required content. Juniper oil is used in the traditional Turkish medicine as a diuretic, for gastrointestinal problems and as a general antiseptic. It is believed to have both anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. Dissimilarities in the EO chemical composition are observed in the literature and are attributed to the geographical location, age and degree of plant ripeness, harvesting methods and distillation techniques (Harhour et al., 2018). The Juniper EO extracted from berries has been investigated and established for its in-vitro antioxidant and anti-radical activities which are mostly dependent on the nature of the oil components and their concentrations. The aim of the present study was to investigate the chemical composition of the commercially obtained essential oils of juniper berries from Macedonia and to assess their antioxidant activity in vitro.