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The chemical composition of essential oils and free radicals balance on the basis of superoxide dismutase activity and lipid peroxidation in seeds of 5 different gespecies of Ocimum basilicum L. were investigated. Main component of essential oils was linalool and methyl cavicol and examined seeds belonge to linaloolic chemotype. Seeds with high free radicals balance because of high superoxide dismutase activity and low lipid peroxidation had also high linalool content. On the contrary, seeds with low superoxide dismutase activity and high lipid peroxidation had small linalool content. Therefore seeds with high superoxide dismutase and low lipid peroxidation could be used in breeding Ocimum basilicum L. species with high linalool content.