Analyzing of chemical composition of the essential oil and study of antioxidant activity of extract of Melissa officinalis from Behshahr -Iran

This research has been conducted to analyzeessential oil and ethanol extract and investigate the antioxidant activity of the ethanol and n-hexane extracts of the Melissa officinalis leaves collected from Hezar Jarib area of Behshahr. Melissa officinalis leaf can be considered as a substitute of the synthetic antioxidants. The leaves of the plant were collected from its natural habitats in the heights of Mazandaran province in early September. In this study, chemical composition of the essential oil and ethanol extract of the Melissa officinalis leaf were analyzed by GC/MS. The antioxidant activity of the ethanol and n-hexane extracts is investigated using method of DPPH and compared to the synthetic antioxidant of ascorbic acid.  The results showed that the main components of essential oil are: Phenoxyethanol (31.66%), total of Carryophyllene Oxide enantiomer (24.71%), totoal of Citral enantiomer (13.89%) and totoal of Caryophyllene enantiomer (9.88%) also the main components of ethanol extract are: Carryophyllene Oxide (28.95%), totoal of 2-Hydrazino–Nicotinic acid (11.37%), Phytol (8.61%) and β-Caryophyllene (7.44%) respectively. Also the Ic50 of the ethanol and n-hexane extracts are determined 39.05 and 98.93 μg/ml respectively, and in the FRAP method the ability of reducing of the ethanol and n-hexane extracts were 91.3 and 105.5 μg/ml respectively. By comparing the results, extracts have antioxidant effect and ability of reducing so can be used in medicine industries.