Chemical composition and antioxidant activities of the essential oils from green and ripe berries of Juniperus excelsa growing in Lebanon

Abstract

The essential oils of unripe and ripe berries have been obtained by hydrodistillation and identified using GC/MS revealing significant difference in compositions between the two essential oils. Thirty two compounds (86%) and thirty compounds (86.81%) have been identified in the unripe and ripe barriers essential oils respectively. While trans-nerolidol (23.76%), (Z,E)-farnesol (22.2%), and α-pinene (21.8%) have been the major compounds of the unripe berries’ essential oil, α- pinene (44%) has been the major compound of the ripe berries’ essential oil in addition to other compounds like  β- myrcene (6.99%), (E,E)-farnesol (4.66%), and β- pinene (4.57 %). The antioxidant activities of the essential oils of green and ripe barriers, in addition to that of the positive control Butylated hydroxyltoulene (BHT) have been employed using 2, 2’-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method. The results reveal limited antioxidant activities of the two essential oils compared to BHT.