Open Journal of Chemistry

Vol. 3 (2020), Issue 1, pp. 1 – 6
ISSN: 2618-0758 (Online) 2618-074X (Print)
DOI: 10.30538/psrp-ojc2020.0016

Chemical composition and Antioxidant activity of essential oil from flowers of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. from El Salvador

Francesco Saverio Robustelli della Cuna\(^1\), Ilaria Bruni, Morena L. Martínez, Marvin J. Núnez
Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia, via Taramelli 12, 27100, Pavia, Italy.; (F.S.R.C)
ZooPlantLab, Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2,I-20126, Milano, Italy.; (F.S.R.C & I.B)
Laboratorio de Investigación en Productos Naturales, Facultad de Química y Farmacia, Universidad de El Salvador, Final Av. de Mártires y Héroes del 30 de Julio, San Salvador 1101, El Salvador.; (M.L.M & M.J.N)
\(^{1}\)Corresponding Author; fsaveriorobustelli@unipv.it

Copyright © 2020 Francesco Saverio Robustelli della Cuna, Ilaria Bruni, Morena L. Martínez, Marvin J. Núnez. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: September 9, 2020 – Accepted: October 1, 2020 – Published: November 7, 2020

Abstract

Couroupita guianensis Aubl. (Lecythidaceae) “Cannonball tree” is a tropical plant with ethnobotanical uses. The present study is focused on analyzing the essential oil composition of Couroupita guianensis (C. guianensi) fresh flowers collected in El Salvador. Steam distillation, coupled with GC/FID and GC/MS analysis were employed to characterize the chemical composition and in vitro antioxidant activity study were carried out using DPPH assay. Eugenol was identified to be the most abundant constituent and quantified as \(46.20\)% of the total volatiles. Other constituents were found to be \(2\)-phenylethanol \((34.82\)%), \((E)-(E)\)-farnesol \((5.53\)%), nerol \((3.95\)%), geraniol \((3.20\)%), benzyl alcohol \((1.77\)%). \(DPPH\) assay showed a dose-dependent antioxidant activity. The study demonstrated that C. guianensis essential oil from El Salvador is a rich source of eugenol, which may be responsible for its antioxidant properties. Based on these results, further studies on the antibacterial and antifungal activity of C. guianensis essential oil are of fundamental importance.

Keywords:

Couroupita guianensis, essential oil, eugenol, \(2\)-phenylethanol, \((E)-(E)\)-farnesol, \(DPPH\).