Chemical Characterization, Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oils of <i>Mentha viridis</i> L. and <i>Mentha pulegium</i> 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.