Chemical Constituents, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oil and Hexane Extract from Arnebia linearifolia DC. Seeds

The essential oil composition of the seeds of Arnebia linearifolia was obtained by hydro distillation and the hexane extract was obtained by Soxhlet apparatus and analyzed by using GC and GC-MS. Twenty-one compounds representing 96.4 % of the distilled oil of A. linearifolia were identified, among them beta-copaene (24.1 %), octyl acetate (23.6 %), cis-beta-ocimene (9.9 %), alpha-pinene (6.1 %), beta-cedrene (4.5 %), osthol (3.7 %) and clovene (3.3 %) were the major constituents. The hexane extract was characterized by higher amount of linolenic acid (omega-3) (45.4 %), linoleic acid (omega-6) (21.8 %) and 6, 9, 12-octadecatrienoic acid (10.3 %). Hexane extract of seeds from A. linearifolia detected as an important source of omega-3 and omega-6 compounds. The antioxidant activity of the essential oil and extract were evaluated by DPPH method. The results indicate that hexane extract of this plant possess considerable antioxidant activity. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oil and extract was determined against some Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as three fungi. The bioassay showed that both oils exhibited moderate antimicrobial activity. This study reveals that the hexanic extract from seeds of this plant is attractive sources of omega-3 and omega-6.