Total flavonoid content and essential oil composition of Chaenomeles japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. ex Spach from North of Iran

Abstract

Essential oil of the fruits of Chaenomeles japonica (Thunb.) Lindl. ex Spach was obtained by hydro distillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Thirty five components representing 94.6 % of total were identified. The oil was rich in monoterpenes (88.3 %) and the main components were: carvacrol (62.6 %), limonene (8.0 %), p-cymene (4.9 %) and γ-terpinene (3.2 %). Quantitative assessment of flavonoids was conducted by aluminum chloride colorimetric method in terms of quercetin equivalent in various extracts of C. japonica fruits. After one week duration of extraction, the highest amount of flavonoid content (1.316 mg/g) was observed in chloroform extract.