Screening chemical composition of essential oils and antioxidant activities of two Artemisia species from Iran .

Essential oils of two wild-growing Artemisia species collected from west of Iran during the flowering stage were obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Under the optimum extraction and analysis conditions, 23 and 19 constituents were identified in A. fragrans and A. hausskenechtii which represented 92.96% and 90.20% of the oils, respectively. The main constituents of A. hausskenechtii were camphor (42.50), 1,8-cineol (20.91 %) and isoborneol (7.27%). Chrysanthenone (41.05%), 1,8-cineol (11.09%), and n-pentane (9.07%) were the major components of essential oils in A. fragrans. Antioxidant activity was assayed by two complementary test systems, namely 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging and β-carotene/linoleic acid systems. Antioxidant activity of polar sub-fraction of A. hausskenechtii was found to be higher than those of the others in DPPH assay while essential oil in A. hausskenechtii had the highest level of antioxidant activity in β-carotene/linoleic acid test (54.2± 0.5 μg/ml and 80.2±0.8% inhibition rate, respectively).