Chemical Characterization, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oils of Mentha viridis L. and Mentha pulegium L. (L)

Abstract

The essential oils from Mentha viridis L. and Mentha pulegium L. were characterized by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). These oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and presented linalool (40.70%), carvone (13.52%) and α-terpinene (8.56%) as the principal constituents in the essential oil from Mentha viridis L. Pulegone (50.01%), menthol (31.90%) and menthone (16.56%) were the principal constituents in the essential oil from Mentha pulegium L. These essential oils (in concentrations ranging from 3.91 to 500 μL·mL-1) showed satisfactory activities against Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella choleraesuis and Staphylococcus aureus. The antioxidant activities with 2-deoxyribose and phosphomolybdenum and the reducing power (in concentrations ranging from 0.78 to 1000 μL·mL-1) were determined. The antioxidant activity was observed for the two oils evaluated by the phosphomolybdenum and 2-deoxyribose methods, whereas the essential oil from M. viridis presented low antioxidant activity in the reducing power assay.