Antioxidants 2013, 2(1), 11-22; doi:10.3390/antiox2010011
Article

Antioxidant Capacity of Selected Plant Extracts and Their Essential Oils

Charalampos Proestos 1,* email, Konstantina Lytoudi 1 email, Olga Konstantina Mavromelanidou 1 email, Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis 2 email and Vassileia J. Sinanoglou 3 email
1 Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens15771, Greece 2 Institute of Biology, Medicinal Chemistry & Biotechnology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48, Vas. Constantinou Ave., Athens11635, Greece 3 Laboratory of Food Analysis, Department of Food Technology, Technological Educational Institution of Athens, Egaleo 12210, Greece
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2 November 2012; in revised form: 4 December 2012 / Accepted: 24 December 2012 / Published: 4 January 2013
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Abstract: The main objective of this study was the screening of some selected aromatic plants very popular in Greece, with respect to their total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, reducing activity, and oxidative stability. All plants were extracted with the conventional method, reflux with methanol. The essential oils of the plants were also analyzed for their antioxidant properties. The total phenolic content was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu method using gallic acid as the standard, while the phenolic substances were identified and quantified by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) coupled with a multi-wavelength ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) detector. The antioxidant capacity of the plant extracts was measured by their ability to scavenge free radicals such as (a) DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and, (b) ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiaziline-6- sulfonate). The Folin-Ciocalteu method proved the existence of antioxidants in the aromatic plant extracts. Taking into account the results of the DPPH and ABTS methods, the free radical scavenging capacity was confirmed. Eventually, all plants exhibited low but noticeable protection levels against lipid oxidation, as determined by the Rancimat test.
Keywords: plant extracts; essential oils; HPLC-UV/vis; antioxidant capacity; DPPH; ABTS; Rancimat test

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MDPI and ACS Style

Proestos, C.; Lytoudi, K.; Mavromelanidou, O.K.; Zoumpoulakis, P.; Sinanoglou, V.J. Antioxidant Capacity of Selected Plant Extracts and Their Essential Oils. Antioxidants 2013, 2, 11-22.

AMA Style

Proestos C, Lytoudi K, Mavromelanidou OK, Zoumpoulakis P, Sinanoglou VJ. Antioxidant Capacity of Selected Plant Extracts and Their Essential Oils. Antioxidants. 2013; 2(1):11-22.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Proestos, Charalampos; Lytoudi, Konstantina; Mavromelanidou, Olga K.; Zoumpoulakis, Panagiotis; Sinanoglou, Vassileia J. 2013. "Antioxidant Capacity of Selected Plant Extracts and Their Essential Oils." Antioxidants 2, no. 1: 11-22.

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