Antioxidant Properties of Kaffir Lime Oil as Affected by Hydrodistillation Process

Abstract

Kaffir lime oil is essential oil from kaffir lime leaves (Citrus hystrix. DC). That essential oil
possesses some important bioactivities such as antioxidant, antileukemic, antitussive,
antihemorrhage, antioxidative stress properties, and antibacterial properties. Nowdays,
essential oil of kaffir lime is in demand as a fragrance in the food, perfumery and cosmetic
industries our present study investigated the effect of leaves treatment by hydrodisstillation
process on phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties as well as volatile compounds of
kaffir lime leaf. The results showed milling provided the highest values of total phenolic
(23.15 mg/GAE/g) and total flavonoid contents (12.85 mg/RE/g) along with antioxidant
activities determined by in vitro DPPH assays. Our findings suggest that different treatment
of leafs before hydrodisttilation process caused various effect on the phenolic compounds
and antioxidant properties of kaffir lime oil.
Keywords : kaffir lime oil, phenolics, flavonoids, hydrodistillation