Essential Oil Composition and Radical Scavenging Activity of Piper penangense C.DC

The genus Piper is among the most important genera in the Piperaceae family. It is known for several medicinally and economically important species that have been used throughout their native range. Piper species have great diversity in the world’s tropical regions and are represented mainly by aromatic shrubs and trees with significant production of essential oils. The present study reports the chemical composition of the essential oil of Piper penangense and its radical scavenging activity. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and fully characterized by gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antioxidant activity of the essential oil was determined using DPPH free radical scavenging assay. A total of 12 components (84.5%) were successfully identified, which were characterized by humulene epoxide II (31.9%), caryophyllene oxide (9.9%), muurola-4,10(14)-dien-1β-ol (9.1%) and β-ionone (8.3%). The essential oil showed significant activity towards DPPH radical scavenging (concentration 1,000 μg/mL) with a percentage inhibition of 72.5%. This study may provide valuable information and indications for further exploring the potential nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications of the Piper species.