Development of a Novel Oil Formulated from Thirteen Chemical Compounds: Economic Significance of Active Compound Quantities Based on Synergy Studies

In this work, oil formulated from thirteen standard compounds is developed. These compounds include seven monoterpene hydrocarbons (limonene, α-pinene, β-pinene, p-cymene, myrcene, camphene, ocimene), two monoterpenic alcohols (menthol, linalool), two monoterpenic phenols (carvacrol, thymol), one monoterpene ketone (camphor), and one phenylpropene (eugenyl acetate). The evaluation of the antioxidant activity of these pure compounds, using the free radical trapping method 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), shows that phenolic compounds are the most active; however, their activities remain inferior to those of reference antioxidants (BHT, BHA, and guaiacol). The activity of the formulated oil demonstrates a significant positive synergistic effect, closely matching the activity of guaiacol. This synergistic effect results in a marked decrease in the EC50 of the formulated oil to a value of 27 μmol/ml, with the interactions resulting from the difference in antioxidant activity between experimental and theoretical values (percentage difference in DPPH) equal to 94.62%. This corresponds to a decrease in the overall active dose of 99.95%. Although the partial synergistic contributions of phenolic compounds are the most significant—carvacrol (79.69%), thymol (64.87%), and eugenyl acetate (19.81%)—those of other phenolic compounds are generally less than or equal to 1%. Nonetheless, these compounds induce a material gain in the quantity of compounds with the highest reducing potential, yielding decreases (that is, gains in active materials) of 20.31%, 35.13%, and 80.19%, respectively.