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Influence of microwave power on dehydration kinetics as well as quantity, chemical composition and antioxidant potential of peppermint essential oil was evaluated. The leaves were dried using microwave powers of 200, 400 and 800 W, and the essential oils extracted by hydro-distillation. The antioxidant potential of the essential oils was quantified by DPPH radical-scavenging activity method. The obtained results showed that increasing microwave power caused significant decrement (p ≤ 0.01) in drying duration. Drying over the considered microwave powers reduced essential oil yield significantly (p ≤ 0.01). In total, 36 compounds were identified in the essential oils belonging mainly to oxygenated monoterpenes. The main constituents namely menthol, menthone and menthyl acetate showed significant variation (p ≤ 0.01 or p ≤ 0.05) with the drying process. Antioxidant assaying indicated significant effect (p ≤ 0.05) on radical scavenging activity of the essential oil by drying and essential oil concentration. Compared to the fresh samples (with an IC50 of 103 μg/ml), the leaves dried at microwave power levels of 200, 400 and 800 W resulted in significant lower antioxidant activities with IC50 values of 201, 291 and 615 μg/ml, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satureja bachtiaricabelonging to the family Lamiaceae is an endemic plant that widely distributed in southwestern of Iran. In this study, antibacterial activity and chemical composition of the essential oils from wild populations ofS. bachtiaricacollected from the alpine regions of southwestern of Iran were evaluated. The essential oils obtained from the aerial parts of ten populations ofS. bachtiaricawere analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Essential oil yields were from 1.5 to 1.9 mL/100 g dried material. The major constituents of the essential oils were carvacrol (1.26–62.3 %), thymol (3.2–40.6 %), γ-terpinene (1.94–28.3 %), and p-cymene (6.6–18.4 %). The essential oils fromS. bachtiaricawere rich in monoterpenoids, especially oxygenated monoterpenes. Among ten populations, the essential oils from the Mehriz and Yazd populations had the highest carvacrol amount (62 %). Results indicated that the essential oils had moderate-to-good inhibitory activities against six bacteria. In total, two chemotypes, including carvacrol and thymol were determined forS. bachtiarica. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aerial parts of wildAchillea wilhelmsiiC. Koch andA. kellalensisBoiss. & Hausskn. (Asteraceae family) were collected from Southwestern Iran provinces. The essential oils obtained by steam distillation from fine powder of the leaves and flowers of the twoAchilleaspecies have been analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The oil yield varied of 0.23 to 0.68% dry matter. The variations in chemical compositions from the flowers and leaves are important between plant populations. A total of 46 constituents were identified. The major constituents of the essential oils ofA. wilhelmsiicollected from the Ben and Natanz regions were lavandulyl acetate (t 26.2%), chrysanthenone (t 18.3%), 1,8-cineole (5.5 17.2%), linalool (0.8 16.1%), camphor (0.5 16.6%), borneol (t 6.5%), α-pinene (2.7 6.5%) and lavandulol (t 6.0%), while the essential oils ofA. kellalensisfrom the Kallar region were chamazulene (49.0 52.6%), α-bisabolol (20.5 -25.1%), β-myrcene (2.8 3.7%), and αpinene (1.6 4.5%). Although, the essential oils from the flowers and leaves ofA. kellalensiswere characterized by high level of oxygenated sesquiterpenes, those ofA. wilhelmsiiwere characterized by high level of oxygenated monoterpenes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]