Essential Oil Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Salvia staminea Benth. Extracts

Essential oil composition and antioxidant activity of various extracts of Salvia staminea Benth. from Iran were investigated. Essential oil of S. staminea was isolated by hydrodistillation and characterized by GC and GC-MS methods. Thirty two compounds representing 93.3 % of the oil were identified. The major components were germacrene D (36.3 %) followed by hexahydrofarnesylacetone (11.2 %) and alpha-copaene (7.0 %). Various extracts of root and aerial parts of S. staminea were screened for their antioxidant properties using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and ABTS assays. The level of rosmarinic acid content in the root and aerial parts extracts of S. staminea was determined by HPTLC method. The amount of rosmarinic acid in the root (0.42 mg/g) was more than two folds of its amount in the aerial parts (0.20 mg/g).