Chemical and biological investigation of essential oil of oroxylum indicum L. Leaves cultivated in Egypt

Abstract

Hydrodistilled essential oil of fresh leaves of Oroxylum indicum L. family Bignoniaceae cultivated in Egypt was analyzed by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC/MS) .The yield of essential oil was (0.2 %). Thirty nine components were identified representing (89.85%). Ar-tumerone (19.37%), a sesquiterpene ketone, was the major constituent in the oil followed by methyl hexadecanoate (6.2%), laurenan-2-one (5.59%) and isopropyl butanoate (5.57%). The oxygenated constituents represents (63.81 %) while non-oxygenated constituents represents (26.04 %) .The oil showed significant cytotoxic activity on MCF7 (breast carcinoma cell line), HEPG2 (liver carcinoma cell line) and HELA (cervix carcinoma cell line) ,in addition to good in vivo and in vitro antioxidant activity. The oil also exhibited both hepatoprotective and heptocurative action, but showed weak antimicrobial activity against tested bacteria with no effect against fungi.