Chemical Compositions, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oils of Piper caninum Blume

Chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the fresh leaves and stems oils of Piper caninum were investigated. A total of forty eight constituents were identified in the leaves (77.9%) and stems (87.0%) oil which were characterized by high proportions of phenylpropanoid, safrole with 17.1% for leaves and 25.5% for stems oil. Antioxidant activities were evaluated by using beta-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching, DPPH radical scavenging and total phenolic content. Stems oil showed the highest inhibitory activity towards lipid peroxidation (114.9 +/- 0.9%), compared to BHT (95.5 +/- 0.5%), while leaves oil showed significant total phenolic content ( 27.4 +/- 0.5 mg GA/g) equivalent to gallic acid. However, the essential oils showed weak activity towards DPPH free-radical scavenging. Evaluation of antimicrobial activity revealed that both oils exhibited strong activity against all bacteria strains with MIC values in the range 62.5 to 250 mu g/mL, but weak activity against fungal strains. These findings suggest that the essential oils can be used as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents for therapeutic, nutraceutical industries and food manufactures.