Altitudinal variation in the secondary volatile metabolite composition and antioxidant activity of Cinnamomum tamala Nees collected from three altitudes of Kumaun region, Uttarakhand, India

The medicinal uses of these plants and lack of reports on the essential oils from different altitude, the present study was aimed to investigate the bioactive components and antioxidant activity of the essential oils from the leaves of Cinnamomum tamala, collected from Chorgalia (Nainital district), Pantnagar (Udham Singh Nagar district) and Almora (Almora district), Uttarakhand region. Essential oil analysis was done by GC and GC-MS, and antioxidant activity were measured by DPPH radical scavenging activity and metal chelating activity. The essential oils from the fresh leaves were analysed by GC and GC-MS. (E)-cinnamyl acetate (5.5–6.2%), linalool (7.7–26.7%), and (E)-cinnamaldehyde (23.1–80.3%) were the major constituents in the fresh samples from all three locations in different proportions. Phenyl propanoids were the major class of compounds from all three locations. Cinnamomum tamala possessed significant antioxidant activity. The antioxidant activity of Cinnamomum tamala was found to be maximum in the high-altitude region in the present study.