Antioxidant activity of essential oil and aqueous extract of Pelargonium graveolens L'Her

Pelargonium graveolens L'Her is an aromatic, rose-scented herb which is indigenous to various parts of southern Africa, and nowadays cultivated worldwide. This work presents the first phytochemical investigation of P. graveolens cultivated in Bosnia. The volatile profile of odorous parts of the plant was analysed by GC/MS. More than eighty compounds were identified in essential oils obtained from the leaves and stems, representing 92.3% and 96.3% in total, respectively. The major compounds in essential oils were oxygenated monoterpenes (64.3-74.2%), with geraniol (27.5-50.2%) and citronellol (14.2-19.0%) as the main representatives. The content of phenolic compounds in corresponding hydrosols as 34.88 ± 2.00 mg GAE/g in leaves and 102.44 ± 1.63 mg GAE/g in stems including flavonoid compounds of 32.35 ± 0.81 mg GAE/g to 101.87 ± 1.03 mg GAE/g. The radical-scavenging activity was measured by the DPPH method and IC50 values ranged from 0.19 ± 0.05 mg/mL (stems) to 0.39 ± 0.04 mg/mL (leaves) for hydrosols, and from 63.70 ± 1.56 mg/mL (leaves) to 64.88 ± 1.12 mg/mL (stems) for essential oils.

► We isolated essential oil from aerial parts of P. graveolens L'Her. ► We determined essentail oil constituents using GC/MS technique. ► We determined total phenolic and flavonoid content in hydrosols of P. graveolens. ► We examined antioxidant activity of isolated extracts using DPPH radical method. ► All examined samples showed prominent antioxidant activity comparable with thymol.