Screening and evaluation of radical scavenging active compounds in the essential oil from Magnolia biondii Pamp by electronic nose coupled with chemical methodology

Abstract An electronic nose (E-nose) coupled with chemical methodology was established, which can quickly screen and evaluate the radical scavenging activity of each component in the essential oil from Magnolia biondii Pamp (EOMB) without time-consuming and laborious separation of pure compounds. The method was established based on the differences of peak areas of the antioxidant components in EOMB before and after reaction with free radicals. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of EOMB were performed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS). The radical scavenging activities were evaluated by E-nose coupled with chemical methodology. The results showed that the major components of EOMB were β-pinene (854.2 μg/g), sabinene (753.0 μg/g), α-pinene (437.2 μg/g), farnesol (272.2 μg/g), α-myrcene (190.7 μg/g), epi-cubebol (188.2 μg/g) and eucalyptol (147.1 μg/g). Among all chemical components in EOMB, α-terpineol, c-cadinene and α-phellandrene showed the strongest scavenging ability in 1,1′-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazine (DPPH), 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethyl-benzothiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) and hydroxyl (OH) radicals, respectively, with scavenging rates of 84.1 %, 89.1 % and 54.1 %.