Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Essential Oil of Eugenia caryophylata from Amboina Island and Derivatives of Eugenol

Abstract Essential oil from Eugenia caryophylata was normally used to heal many different deseaces. Various chemical compositions of essential oil distilled and steamed of Moluccas Eugenia caryophylata has been investigated by many different researchers. Even though an intensive research has been carried out of the local chemotypes, a very detail study has not been fully investigated to find out the complete chemical compounds from the plant essential oil and its content associated with their biological activities. In present paper, we assess the free radical scavenging of E. caryophylata collected from Moluccas islands, Indonesia. Essential oil was extracted from leaves, buds, and stems of plant by steam distillation and analyzed using GC-FID and GC-MS. The result showed that free radical activity of essential oil, main constituent and its derivatives were analized using in vitro method. Essential oil activity from stem obtained as (0.82±0.15 μg/mL) was higher than that from bud and leaf possessing both 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and (2,2’-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthizoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging assays by sinergism of eugenol, eugenyl acetate, β-caryophylene and humulene. The activity of isoeugenol ( 2 ) (3.59±0.54 μM) and (5.0±0.53 µM) scavenging DPPH and ABTS, respectively, as derivatives eugenol was higher than ( 3 ), ( 4 ) and ( 5 ). Although ( 6 ) was active originally, it was inactive after conversion of the ester. While the change of the double bond of location to conjungation structure caused more activity scavenging radicals than the starting molecule.