Evaluation of antioxidant active ingredients of spikenard essential oil by ultra-fast gas chromatography electronic nose and radical scavenging mechanism

Abstract As a new rapid detection technology, ultra-fast gas chromatography electronic nose (E-nose) can accurately distinguish and identify different odor ingredients based on the retention index and data processing system in a short time. The chemical components of spikenard (Nardostachys chinensis) essential oil (SEO) were detected by E-nose and verified by GC–MS with 94 % accuracy. Combining E-nose with traditional chemical methodology including E-nose-DPPH, E-nose-ABTS and E-nose−OH were used to quickly evaluate the antioxidant activity of each component of SEO. The results showed that the main components of SEO were calarene, β-maaliene, valerena-4,7(11)-diene, aristolene, γ-terpinene, and seychellene. Furthermore, SEO showed the best scavenging ability in ABTS than DPPH or OH radicals, and the highest scavenging rates are 95.0 % for ABTS, 72.4 % for DPPH and 73.0 % for OH radical, respectively. Among all ingredients of SEO, β-maaliene (70.6 %, 52.3 %, 26.4 %), calarene (69.5 %, 41.6 %, 22.5 %), valerena-4,7(11)-diene (78.1 %, 46.2 %, 6.4 %) and β-cadinene (78.8 %, 51.4 %, 7.1 %) have scavenging effects for ABTS, DPPH and OH radicals.