Effect of exposure to light emitted diode (LED) lights on essential oil composition of sweet mint plants

Abstract

Sweet mint plants (Mentha spicata) were separately exposed to blue, red and green light emitted diodes (LED) lights and natural sunlight as a control. Leaves were analyzed periodically for their essential oil composition using head space GCMS analysis. Control experiments showed that the main essential oil components were carvone (80%), limonene (17%) and other minor terpenes (3%). Exposed plants to green and red lights showed that their headspace essential oils were similar to that of the control plants. However, blue LED lights caused complete disappearance of carvone and limonene, which were never recovered. Disappearance of carvone and limonene were associated with the appearance of new chemicals at concentrations of 65 and 21% that were identified as carvone oxide and eucalyptol, respectively.

Keywords:

• LED
• phototoxicity
• ROS
• oxidative damage
• carvone
• limonene
• monoterpenes

Additional information

Funding

This publication was made possible in part, by research infrastructure support from grant number 2G12MD007605 from the National Institutes of Health NIMHD/NIH.