Comparative Study of Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oil Extracted from Acorus calamus L. Leaves

Background & Aim: Acorus calamus L. is a native herb in India. The herb belongs to family Acoraceae. It is perennial and grows in marshy land with scented rhizomes and tapered reed like leaves with 80-100 cm in height. The leaves generally arise from the rhizomes. It is also known as sweet flag in English and vernacularly as Bach. The present investigation reveals the chemical diversity and antioxidant activity of Acorus calamus leaf essential oils from different altitudinal regions of Uttarakhand. Experimental: The essential oil composition of Acorus calamus (Araceae) leaves, collected from twenty different ecological niches of Uttarakhand, in India with oil yield ranged between 0.2-1.4 percent, were analyzed by GC/MS. DPPH assay were performed for determination of antioxidant activity of each oil. Results: The major component ranging 43.4-60.7% of the total oil was identified as β- asarone. The other predominant constituents were α-asarone (2.6-7.9%), shyobunone (3.4-6.3%) and Z- isoelemicin (3.2-5.4%). The antioxidant activity of essential oil was studied by their ability to scavenge free radicals with different IC50 values (10.79-106.44 μg/ml) in comparison to standard antioxidant. Recommended applications/industries: The vast chemical diversity of the herb essential oil and its antioxidant potential can be good natural source for herbal neutraceuticals and phenyl propanoids, the biologically important class of terpenoids.