Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oil from Torreya grandis cv. merrillii Arils

This study was to investigate the chemical composition and the antioxidant activity of essential oils extracted from Torreya grandis cv. merrillii arils by hydro-distillation. Eighty six compounds, accounting for 96.39% of the essential oil, were identified by GC-MS. The essential oil contained 42 sesquiterpenoids (68.91%), 25 monoterpenoids (14.52%), 14 diterpenoids (12.39%), 3 ester (0.35%), 1 aliphatic ketones (0.04 %), and 1 aliphatic aldehyde (0.18%). The major components of the oil were Δ-cadinene, germacrene D, limonene, β-farnesene, cembrene, and α-pinene. Antioxidant activities of the essential oil was determined by 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity assay (IC50=17.13 mg/ml), β-carotene/ linoleic acid bleaching method (IC50=22.48 mg/ml), and thiobarbituric acid reactive species assay (IC50=13.48 mg/ml). These various antioxidant activities were compared with synthetic antioxidants (butylated hydroxytoluene and acorbic acid). Restults revealed that the essential oil possessed strong antioxidant activity, suggesting that the arils of Torreya grandis cv. Merrillii could be a bio-resource for an essential oil with antioxidant activity.