Salvia officinalis L. essential oils: effect of hydrodistillation time on the chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities.

Salvia officinalis L. oils were isolated from the plant's commercial dried aerial parts, by hydrodistillation, with different distillation times. The essential oils were analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The antioxidant ability was measured using a free radical scavenging activity assay using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), a thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay, a deoxyribose assay for the scavenging of hydroxyl radical, an assay for site-specific actions and a 5-lipoxygenase assay. Antibacterial activity was determined by the agar diffusion method. 1,8-Cineole, α-pinene and camphor were the dominant components of all the essential oils. The different hydrodistillation times did not affect the oil yield nor the relative amount of the oil components. The time of hydrodistillation influenced the antioxidant activity. With the DPPH method, the oils isolated for 2 and 3 h were stronger free radical scavengers, while with the TBARS method, the highest antioxidant values were obtained in the oils isolated for 30 min, 2 and 3 h. Hydroxyl radical scavenging and lipoxygenase activity assays showed the best results with oils isolated for 1 and 3 h. With the deoxyribose method, sage oils at concentrations <1000 mg L(-1) showed better activity than mannitol. The essential oil of S. officinalis showed very weak antimicrobial activity.