Chemical and antioxidant diversity of essential oils of some Salvia species from Turkey.

This study was carried out to determine the antioxidant activities, essential oil content and composition of nine Salvia species from Turkey. The studied species are endemic, except for S. tomentosa. The essential oil of the plant was obtained by hydrodistillation method for 3 h using Clevenger apparatus and essential oil components were determined by GC-MS. The results of the analysis revealed that the main components of essential oils of Salvia species are isopinocamphone, sabinyl acetate, β-eudesmol, camphor, trans-sabinol, β-pinene, α-pinene and eucalyptol. The highest radical scavenging activity values were obtained in Salvia aucheri subsp. canescens (71.47%), followed by Salvia dichroantha (40.97%). The lowest value was obtained in Salvia caespitosa (12.19%). • Essential oils were from nine Salvia species in Turkey, eight of which endemic. • The highest essential oil content was obtained from Salvia quezelii. • Salvia aucheri subsp. canescens showed the highest antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]