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. 2016 Jan 19;21(1):E113.
doi: 10.3390/molecules21010113.

Comparative Study of Essential Oils Extracted from Egyptian Basil Leaves (Ocimum basilicum L.) Using Hydro-Distillation and Solvent-Free Microwave Extraction

Mohammed Chenni  1 , Douniazad El Abed  2 , Njara Rakotomanomana  3 , Xavier Fernandez  4 , Farid Chemat  5
Affiliations

Comparative Study of Essential Oils Extracted from Egyptian Basil Leaves (Ocimum basilicum L.) Using Hydro-Distillation and Solvent-Free Microwave Extraction

Mohammed Chenni et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) and conventional hydro-distillation (HD) were used for the extraction of essential oils (EOs) from Egyptian sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) leaves. The two resulting EOs were compared with regards to their chemical composition, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities. The EO analyzed by GC and GC-MS, presented 65 compounds constituting 99.3% and 99.0% of the total oils obtained by SFME and HD, respectively. The main components of both oils were linalool (43.5% SFME; 48.4% HD), followed by methyl chavicol (13.3% SFME; 14.3% HD) and 1,8-cineole (6.8% SFME; 7.3% HD). Their antioxidant activity were studied with the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH(•)) radical scavenging method. The heating conditions effect was evaluated by the determination of the Total Polar Materials (TPM) content. The antimicrobial activity was investigated against five microorganisms: two Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis, two Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and one yeast, Candida albicans. Both EOs showed high antimicrobial, but weak antioxidant, activities. The results indicated that the SFME method may be a better alternative for the extraction of EO from O. basilicum since it could be considered as providing a richer source of natural antioxidants, as well as strong antimicrobial agents for food preservation.

Keywords: DDPH assay; GC/MS; antimicrobial activity; antioxidant activity; basil (Ocimum basilicum L.); chemical composition; essential oil; hydro-distillation; microwave.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Temperature profiles as a function of time for the SFME (●) and HD (○) extraction of EO from sweet basil leaves.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Yield profiles as a function of time for the SFME (●) and HD (○) extraction of EO from sweet basil leaves.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Evaluation of antioxidant activity of basil essential oils (● SFME-EO ○ HD-EO ◊ α-tocopherol).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of TPM during the frying process (at 180 °C) of olive oil containing basil essential oils (● OO-SFME-EO; ○ OO-HD-EO) and virgin olive oil (◊ OO).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Photograph showing inhibition zones of the microbial growth of all tested microorganisms and control.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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