Essential oil compositions and antioxidant activity of the fresh leaves of <i>Talinum triangulare</i> (Jacq.) Willd from Nigeria

Abstract

Essential oils from the fresh leaves of Talinum triangulare (100 g) growing along Ijesha road, Ago Iwoye, Ijebu north local government area of Ogun State, Nigeria were obtained by hydrodisitllation in an all-glass clevenger type apparatus and the chemical constituents determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antioxidant activity of the essential oils was tested with 1,1 diphenyl 2 picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The yield of the essential oils was 0.060% (v/w). A total of thirteen constituents representing 100% of the essential oil were identified from the GC-MS analysis. The major components of T. triangular eessential oil were γ-terpinene (26.34%), dlimonene (16.08%), β-pinene (13.91%), β-bisabolol (12.62%), cyclotrisiloxane hexamethyl (8.18%) and caryophyllene (5.65%). Monoterpenes (61.30%), sesquiterpenoids (14.14%), sesquiterpenes (11.72%) and organosilicon (12.84%) were the classes of compounds identified from the essential oil. The leaves essential oil of T. triangulare displayed potent antioxidant activity with percentage inhibition values of 51.886, 54.209, 58.447, 62.137 and 66.648 at varying concentrations. T.triangulare exhibited the highest inhibition (66.648) at concentration of 0.5 mg/mL as against the standard of 70.36 at similar concentration which also makes it a good antioxidant agent.