Essential oil from the seeds of Moringa peregrina: Chemical composition and antioxidant potential

In the present study, the chemical composition and antioxidant potential of essential oil from the seed kernel of Moringa peregrina were studied. Gas Chromatography and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry analyses of the essential oil revealed that the oil contains 33 compounds. Among that, geijerene was identified as the major compound (33.38%) followed by linalool (23.36%), caryophyllene oxide (19.28%), n-hexadecane (12.59%) and carvacrol (1.89%). The antioxidant activity indicated that the essential oil has DPPH• radical (IC50 = 37.70 μg/mL), ABTS•+ radical (IC50 = 34.03 μg/mL), superoxide anion (IC50 = 36.57 μg/mL), nitric oxide radical (IC50 = 29.15 μg/mL), hydrogen peroxide (IC50 = 43.93 μg/mL) and hydroxyl radical (IC50 = 29.99 μg/mL) radical scavenging activities. Thus, the essential oil of M. peregrina can be considered as an alternate choice to the synthetic antioxidants.