Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The essential oil of cultivated Tagetes patula L. flowers was obtained by hydro-distillation (yielded 0.18 %) and analyzed by GC-MS. The oil has a typically pungent odour and is amber red in colour. Among identified compounds, eight are found to be major constituents of the volatile oil. The results revealed that the predominant components in the T. patula flowers oil are β-ocimene, α-terpinolene, trans-caryophyllene, Z-ocimenone, dl-limonene, piperitenone, β-pinene and car-3-en-2-one. Antioxidant activity was checked by 2,2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging method. Ascorbic acid was used as standard. Essential oil of T. patula exhibited significant antioxidant activity. The IC50 of the oil was found 28.0 µg/ml and that of ascorbic acid 15.0 µg/ml.
Negi et al. (2013) studied this question.