Aromatic Plants of Tropical West Africa. Part XIV. Chemical and Biological Investigation of Lippia multiflora Mold. Essential Oil from Benin^a

Abstract

The essential oil of the leaves of Lippia multiflora collected in Benin was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. Thirty-six components, representing 96.5% of oil were identified. The sample consisted mainly of monoterpenes. The major constituents were 1,8-cineole (39.9%), sabinene (11.1%), linalool (10.9%) and α-terpineol (10%). The antioxidant and antiradical activities of the oil was found to be low comparatively to that of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT).

Key Word Index:

• Lippia multiflora
• Verbenaceae
• essential oil
• sabinene
• 1,8-cineole
• antioxidant property
• radical scavenging activity