What is it about?

Aromatic plants are potential natural sources of novel antibiotics and particular interest has focused on their essential oils as main sources of potent antimicrobial and antifungal compounds classified as terpenoids, flavonoids and phenolics. EO extracted by hydrodistillation from Iranian Achillea millefolium was characterized by means of GC-MS. The EO was also subjected to evaluation for antioxidant properties. Results clearly show the antioxidant effects of the plant essential oil.

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Why is it important?

Aromatic and medicinal plants are known to produce certain bioactive molecules which react with other organisms in the environment, inhibiting bacterial or fungal growth 5. Therefore, our primary objective was to characterize the EOs of Achillea millefolium, and compare their antioxidant activity.

Perspectives

The A. millefolium EO showed the high radical scavenging activity (IC50: 23.11 ± 0.04 mg/ ml), more than trolox (23.51 ± 0.05 mg/ml). Table 3 also shows the results of β-carotene bleaching inhibition based on the loss of the yellow color of β-carotene due to its reaction with radicals produced during linoleic acid oxidation in an emulsion. The A.millefolium oil (2.05 ± 0.01 μl/ml) was better than the trolox (2.06 ± 0.0 μl/ml). Compared to Trolox the A. millefolium exhibited stronger antioxidant activity. Recent reports indicate that the Achillea genus displays a relevant antioxidant activity that is associated or correlated well with its flavonoid and total phenolic contents 16. Components identified and their antioxidant activity relative percentages have been showed in Table 3. The major compound found in the active band were thymol (71 %) and carvacrol (16 %) (Table 2). In conclusion, it is worthwhile to screen the commonly used plants from the local flora for different biological activities because they might present a new alternative source for possible

Dr Ali Mehrafarin
Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, Karaj, Iran

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This page is a summary of: Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity Achillea millefolium L. Essential Oils, Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants, January 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/0972060x.2016.1238323.
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