Comparative Quality Evaluation of Commercial Essential Oil Brands Using Phytochemical Profiling, FTIR Spectroscopy, Antioxidant Capacity, and Antibacterial Assessment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.67244/jai.bwo-researches.v4i3.a259Keywords:
Essential oils, Adulteration, Quality assessment, Phytochemical screening, FTIR analysis, Antioxidant activity, Antibacterial activity, Total phenolic content, Bioactive compounds, Quality controlAbstract
Essential oils are being widely used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food, and aromatherapy industries due to their varied biological activities. However, increased commercial need for these oils has resulted in concerns related to the quality, authenticity, and variations in composition of products available in the market. The present study was conducted to compare the chemical properties and quality of two commercial brands of Rosmarinus officinalis, Lavandula angustifolia, and Rosa damascena essential oils available in Daska city, Pakistan. Six commercial essential oil samples from two brands of three plant species were collected. Oil fractions were made in methanol, ethanol, and distilled water, whereas chloroform and n-hexane failed to form oil fractions. Phytochemical analysis was conducted qualitatively for the detection of secondary metabolites; infrared spectroscopy (4000-400 cm⁻¹) was conducted to identify functional groups; total phenolic content (TPC) was measured by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, and antibacterial potential was tested against the bacterial strains. Variations in the amounts of phytochemicals were seen in the essential oil fractions, including alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, proteins, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, phenols, reducing sugars, saponins, and amino acids, but with Rosa damascena (NB brand) having the largest number of phytochemicals detected. FTIR analyses detected some functional groups including O–H, C–H, C=O, C–O, C=C, and C–N. The methanolic fraction of Rosmarinus officinalis (HM brand) contained the highest amount of total phenolic content (434.075 ± 0.004), while the lowest amount was found in the ethanolic fraction of Lavandula angustifolia (NB brand) (0.055 ± 0.003). No antibacterial activity was demonstrated by any of the samples used. These results reveal variations in the compositions of commercially available essential oils and indicate the need for further authentication of the products by using chromatographic methods, for example, GC-MS or GC-FID.
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