Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oil of Artemisia nilagirica Linn. From Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

Artemisia nilagirica Linn. (Asteraceae), commonly known as dauna, is a wild plant occurring in Himalayan and Sub-Himalayan regions of India. Decoctions of different parts of the plant have been used extensively in various disease ailments. In present study, GC and GC-MS analysis of essential oil isolated from leaves of Artemisia nilagirica is investigated. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the oil was evaluated through DPPH scavenging activity and beta-carotene bleaching test. Chemically characterized A.nilagirica oil showed presence of 29 major and minor compounds representing around 95.3 % of the oil. Compounds such as bicylco [2.2.1] heptanes 2-one, 1, 7,7-trimethyl, (1S)-CAS (-) alcanfo (22.8 %), trans-caryophyllene (16.7 %), sabinene (14.3 %) and alpha-thujone (14.6 %) were turned out as major component showed higher percent composition. The oil significantly inhibited the formation of radical cations, with IC50 value of 15.729 mu L and prevented the bleaching of beta-carotene, with IC50 value of 13.539 mu L.