Sarcouncil Journal of Biomedical Sciences

Abstract: Cinnamomum parthenoxylon is commonly referred to as mint, is a perennial herb and widely utilized in traditional medicine. It affects the lung and liver meridians, helping to clear wind-heat and reduce stress, and is used as a cooling medicine to treat wind-heat colds, headaches, conjunctivitis, rhinitis, nasal congestion, sore throat, measles, hives, and skin rashes. Although there have been several studies on the chemical composition of Cinnamomum parthenoxylon essential oil, the chemical composition of Cinnamomum parthenoxylon essential oil grown in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, has not been investigated. However, the chemical composition and biological properties of the essential oil of Cinnamomum parthenoxylon collected in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, have not been investigated. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to identify the chemical composition of Cinnamomum parthenoxylon essential oil. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and the agar disc diffusion method were used to evaluate the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the essential oil, respectively. Among the different plant parts, the leaves, flowers, and bark all contain essential oils, with the bark having the highest content, ranging from 1–4%, while the leaves and fruits contain lower amounts (0.3–0.9%). The main components of the essential oil are as follows: the bark contains cinnamic aldehyde (77.3%) and cinnamic aldehyde (57.7%); the branches contain trans-cinnamyl acetate (27.6%); the leaves contain cinnamic aldehyde (53.5%) and (Z)-9-octadecenamide (19.5%); and the roots contain cinnamic aldehyde (58.3%) and p-methoxy cinnamic aldehyde (12.0%).The strong antioxidant and antibacterial effects of Cinnamomum parthenoxylon essential oil were demonstrated with an IC50 value of 6.75 ± 0.2 μg/mL. Our results indicate that the essential oil of Cinnamomum parthenoxylon collected in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam, has great potential in the pharmaceutical industry.