Evaluation of bioactivity and physicochemical characteristics of Citrus microcarpa leaf and flower essential oil

Researchers at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and Phu Yen University looked at the bioactivity and physicochemical characteristics of the essential oils in the leaf and flower of calamondin (Citrus microcarpa), also known as calamansi or Philippine lime. The team published their results in the Journal of Essential Oil Research.

• In this study, the researchers found that monoterpene hydrocarbons dominated the essential oil obtained from calamondin flower.
• It contains 74.5 percent of limonene, which was determined as the major constituent.
• The dominant component found in the calamondin leaf essential oil were 82 percent sesquiterpene with 37.5 percent elemol as the major components.
• The researchers also obtained thermal data, in which they found that thermal stability of calamondin flower and leaf essential oils was up to 80 and 110 degrees Celsius, respectively.
• In addition, a study of TG isothermal volatilization at 42.5 degrees Celsius showed the mass loss of the essential oils as a function of exposition time.
• Moreover, antioxidant assays using both DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging methods revealed that the antioxidant activity of both calamondin flower and leaf essential oils was higher than that of vitamin C.
• The researchers also tested calamondin flower and leaf essential oils against microbial and fungal strains.
• They found that the leaf essential oil exhibited inhibitory effects against six microbial strains.
• On the other hand, the flower essential oil inhibited only one fungus strain, which was Aspergillus niger.

In sum, these results showed that calamondin flower and leaf essential oils have antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties.

Learn more about calamondin and other natural medicines at AlternativeMedicine.news.

Journal Reference:

Nguyen TNT, Huynh TNN, Tran VT, Dang CH, Hoang TKD, Nguyen TD. PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND BIOACTIVITY EVALUATION OF ESSENTIAL OILS FROM CITRUS MICROCARPA BUNGE LEAF AND FLOWER. Journal of Essential Oil Research. 8 February 2018; 30(4): 285-292. DOI: 10.1080/10412905.2018.1435428