ESSENTIAL OILS OF OCIMUM BASILICUM L. AND OCIMUM GRATISSIMUM L. FROM KENYA: COMPOSITION, ANTIRADICAL AND ANTIMICOTOXICOGENIC ACTIVITY

DAMBOLENA JS; ZUNINO MP; LÓPEZ AG; ZYGADLO JA; MWANGI JW; THOITHI GN; KIBWAGE IO; MWALUKUMBI JM

Kampala, Uganda

Simposio; THE 12TH SYMPOSIUM OF THE NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH NETWORK FOR EASTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA (NAPRECA); 2007

NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH NETWORK FOR EASTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA (NAPRECA)

Although are widely used in East Africa as medicinal plants, little work has been carried out on the constituents and biological activity. This work investigated the constituents and biological activity of essential oils of Ocimum basilicum L. and Ocimum gratissimum L. from different locations in Kenya. The oil of both leaves and flowering tops of Ocimum basilicum from Sagana contained mainly linalool (more than 95%), while that of leaves from Kariti contained geranial (49.6%) and neral (30.9%) as the main constituents. The flowering tops and leaves from Yatta contained mainly camphor (32.6 and 31.0%, respectively) and linalool (28.2 and 29.3% respectively). Eugenol was the main constituent in the essential oil of Ocimum gratissimum leaves from both Sagana (95.5%) and Yatta (70.1%). However, the oil of the flowering tops had significantly less eugenol. Cis-ocimene was the main component (34.1%) of the oil of flowering tops from Yatta. The oils of O. basilicum and O. gratissimum from different locations showed chemical variation and some antifungal activity. Ocimum gratissimum oil exhibited strong free radical scavenging capacity and antimicotoxicogenic property, which can be attributed to its high eugenol content.