Abstract
Purpose: The aim of this work was to investigate the volatiles released
from aerial parts of Scrophularia subaphylla (Scrophulariaceae)
which is a perennial herb growing in Azarbaijan province in Iran.
Methods: A combination of GC-MS and GC-FID were
applied for analyzing the chemical compositions of the essential oil extracted
by hydro-distillation from the aerial parts of Scrophularia subaphylla (S.
subaphylla).
Results: Thirty six compounds, representing 97.32%
of total oil were identified. High content of terpenoids (60.02%) were
identified in the essential oil with Linalool (22.35%), phytol (15.74%) and
geraniol (7.27%) as the most dominant compounds, while other main components
were representatives of fatty acids (24.31%), indicated mainly by palmitinic
acid (17.29%). DPPH assay was used for assessing the antioxidant properties of
compounds. However, no remarkable free radical scavenging activity was
observed. Furthermore, Disc diffusion method was applied for evaluating the
antimicrobial activity of essential oil vs. gram positive and gram negative
bacteria strains. The examined oil showed weak antibacterial effect.
Conclusion: Main constituents of S. subaphylla
were terpenoids. In comparison with other genesis of Scrophularia,
antioxidant and anti bacterial properties of S. subaphylla essential oil
were not noticeable.