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AbstractThis study aimed at isolating, characterizing and evaluating the antioxidant potential of fruit essential oil of Laggera pterodontanative to Nigeria. Pulverized fruits (500 g) of L. pterodontawere hydrodistilled for 3 hours and yielded 0.07±0.02 % (w/w) of essential oil. The oil was analyzed using GC and GC-MS. The analyses revealed the predominance of sesquiterpenoids (92.7 %), while monoterpenoids constituted 1.5 % of the oil. The major compounds in the oil were α-bergamotene (29.3 %), β-bisabolene (16.9 %), α-copaene (8.8 %) and α-bisabolol (6.0 %). Terpinen-4-ol (0.5 %) and α-terpineole (1.0 %) were the only monoterpenoids detected in the oil. The antioxidant activity of the oil was determined using 2,2-diphenyl- 1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. The oil exhibited antioxidant activity by scavenging DPPH radicals with IC50of 6.05 μL/mL. The activity of the oil was higher than the activity of ascorbic acid with IC50 of 12.84 μl/ml used as standard. Therefore, the oil could serve as an alternative to synthetic drugs for the amelioration of oxidative stress.

AbstractEssential oil from leaf, root, and stem of Peperomia pellucidanative to different countries have been isolated and characterized. Variations in the chemical composition of the essential oil from the same part of the plant were established. Meanwhile, the root essential oil of P. pellucidanative to Nigeria has not been studied. This work aimed at characterizing the root essential oil of P. pellucidagrowing in Nigeria. To achieve this, pulverized roots (500 g) of P. pellucidawere hydrodistilled and yielded 0.03±0.12 % (w/w) of essential oil. Analysis of the essential oil using GC and GC/MS showed the presence of twenty-three chemical compounds. The essential oil was predominated by sesquiterpenoids, which constituted 87.5 % of the oil. Monoterpenoids constituted 2.9 % of the oil. β-fernesene (22.2 %) was the most predominant compound in the essential oil. Other principal constituents of the oil were; β-bisabolene (14.8 %), β-bergamotene (10.7 %), 1,4- cadinadiene (7.4 %), α-copaene (6.6 %) and isosativene (6.5 %). Terpinen-4-ol (2.3 %) was the major monoterpenoid in the oil, while neryl acetate (0.6 %) existed in appreciable quantity. The predominance of β- fernesene in the oil implied that the oil was of β-farnesene chemotype.