In vitro Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oil and Polar and Non-Polar Extracts of Ocimum canun from Mbuji-Mayi DR Congo

DPPH radical scavenging activity of essential oil from fresh leaves of Ocimum canum Sims as well as methanolic, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane and n-hexane crude extracts, from dried leaves were  analysed. The methanolic extract has the low IC50 so the strongest radical scavenging activity among extracts of Ocimum canum with IC50 values of 0.0234 mg.mL-1. Ethyl acetate , Dichloromethane and essential oil showed respectively  IC50 values of  0.0767, 0.1938 and 1.4217 mg.mL-1. So, polar extracts exhibited stronger antioxidant  activity than none-polar ones. None-polar solvents have provided fewer extraction yields than polar.  The GC-MS analysis of the essential oil of Ocimum canum  has been done and led to the identification of 1,8-Cineole as major compound