Chemical profiling and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of essential oils extracted with two methods from some North Western Himalayan aromatic crops

Abstract

Solvent-free hydrodistillation adsorption apparatus (HDA) and normal clevenger hydrodistillation (NC) were applied to obtain Juniperus communis, Valeriana jatamansi and Hedychium spicatum essential oils (EOs). The yields, chemical compositions and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the EOs were investigated. Obtained EOs were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instruments. Recovery improvement was observed in HDA method (30.4%, 27.3% and 29.0% more recovery of EOs than NC method for V. jatamansi, H. spicatum and J. communis, respectively). Present results demonstrated NCV (V. jatamansi EO (essential oil) by NC method) had highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 8.20 μg/mL. As a result, HDA method is considered to be the promising theme for producing EOs with high production recovery. Furthermore, current findings demonstrated that the selected EOs may be a good natural antidiabetic.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Essential oils recovery
• normal clevenger hydrodistillation
• hydrodistillation adsorption apparatus
• physicochemical parameter
• α-glucosidase activity

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Director, CSIR-IHBT Palampur (H.P.), India, for continuous encouragement and providing the needed facilities during the course of study. The authors are also grateful to CSIR, New Delhi for financial support (MLP-0142 and HCP-0007) under which the work was completed.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by CSIR, New Delhi [grant number MLP-0142] and [grant number HCP-0007].