The chemical composition, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties of the essential oil from the leaves of Tagetes elliptica Sm., grown in Peru, were studied. The EO was extracted using steam distillation, and its chemical composition was analyzed using GC-MS, while the antioxidant activity was evaluated using the radical, scavenging capacity (DPPH and ABTS assays), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, ferrous ion chelating (FIC) activity, and the Rancimat test. The antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella infantis was studied using the agar well diffusion method. Twenty-seven compounds were identified in the essential oil, and the major components were cis-tagetenone (37.27%), trans-tagetenone (18.84%), dihydrotagetone (14.38%), and trans-tagetone (5.15%). With regard to antioxidant properties, the IC₅₀ values obtained for the DPPH, ABTS, and FIC assays were 53.37, 46.38, and 22.65 mg/mL, respectively. These values were lower than those obtained for standard butylated hydroxytoluene and ascorbic acid. In the Rancimat test, antioxidant activity was achieved only at high concentration. T. elliptica essential oil showed a marked antibacterial activity against all bacterial strains at all concentrations assayed. This study demonstrated that T. elliptica essential oil could be considered as an alternative to synthetic antioxidants and antimicrobial agents in the food industry.

The aim of this work was to obtain chitosan nanoparticles (<1000 nm) with chincho (Tagetes elliptica Sp.) essential oil (CEO-CSNPs) using the ionic gelation method. A Box–Behnken design (BBD) was applied, using chitosan solution (CS) pH (4.0, 4.4, 4.8); the mass ratio of CS/CEO (1:0.7, 1:0.85, 1:1.0) and the mass ratio of CS/CS-tripolyphosphate (1:0.46, 1:0.58, 1:0.7) as independent variables. The formulation-dependent variables, encapsulation efficiency (EE) and loading capacity (LC) of the CEO-CSNPs were evaluated. BBD determined that optimal conditions for CEO-CSNPs were pH: 4.4, CS/CEO mass ratio 1:0.7 and CS/TPP mass ratio 1:0.46. Once the optimization was defined, particle size (PS), zeta potential (ZP), polydispersity index (PDI), CEO-CSNPs morphological studies, in vitro CEO release, and antibacterial activity were determined. The CEO-CSNPs showed an EE of 52.64% and a LC of 11.56%, with a diameter of 458.5 nm, with a ZP of 23.30mV, and a PDI of 0.418. The SEM studies showed that the nanoparticles were rounded and had uniform shapes. In addition, CEO-CSNPs showed a minimum inhibitory concentration against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella infantis and Escherichia coli of 5.29, 10.57 and 10.57 µg/mL, respectively. These results could be very useful for the stabilization of chincho essential oil for food industry purposes. However, several studies about the release, as well as interaction with food matrices, will be necessary.

Some encapsulation process and formulation parameters influence on several physicochemical properties of the encapsulated products. In this study, the influence of the OEO:β-CD ratio and stirring speed on the total oil, surface oil, oil retention, entrapment efficiency, yield, size distribution (d₁₀, d₃₂, and d₄₃), span value, bounding rectangle aspect ratio (BRAR), Feret’s aspect ratio (FAR), circularity, smoothness, and opacity of microparticles were examined. The superior entrapment efficiency (95.18%), highest oil retention (79.13%), and lowest surface oil content (10.02 mg oil/g powder microparticles) were achieved at an OEO:β-CD ratio of 0.15 (w/w) and stirring speed of 700 rpm. Likewise, all microparticles showed irregular and elongated shapes, in which the opacity distribution was more influenced. Finally, the obtained FTIR spectra contained OEO bands hidden inside β-CD peaks, indicating the occurrence of a complexation reaction after encapsulation.

The oregano essential oil (Origanum vulgare spp.) cultivated in the city of Tacna, Peru, has been chemically analyzed. The physicochemical analysis determined the following characteristics: color (L * 60,51, a * –2,83, b * 14,31), refractive index: 1,475; specific density: 0,9132 and solubility in alcohol: 75 ml. Also, the chemical composition was evaluated by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The chromatogram showed the following percentages: l-4 terpineol with 26,56; thymol with 18,80; g-terpinene, 11,77; 2-carene, 6,53; Terpineol, 4,08; M-cymene, 3,27 and carvacrol 2,24, among others present in smaller proportion.

Extracción y caracterización química del aceite esencial de Eucalipto obtenido por microondas y ultrasonido

Thermal regulation and ultrasound affect the physical, chemical, and antioxidant properties of essential oils and hydrosols extracted by microwaves from the leaves of Tagetes elliptica S. (chincho). The leaves were conditioned by dehydration or freezing, then pre-treated with ultrasound for 15 or 30 minutes at 40 Hz to finally obtain the essential oil (AECH) and hydrolat (HCH) through microwave extraction (500 W and 30 minutes). Yields, phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, leaf structure by optical microscopy, and chemical composition by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were evaluated. The conditioning of the leaves by freezing and sonication for 30 minutes obtained the best performance, 8.86±0.1% and 67.40 ± 4.8%, phenolic content of 39.4±0.1 mg EAG/mL and 346.2 ± 13.6 mg EAG/mL, and antioxidant capacity of 35.7 μmol EqT/mg and 0.25 μmol EqT/mg equivalent, for AECH and HCH, respectively in every case. Structural damage of the leaves was observed due to the effect of the conditioning-ultrasound-microwave treatments, achieving a more significant release of bioactive compounds. The main compounds of the essential oil were tagetenones (49.2%), followed by cis-miroxide (14.5%), dihydrotagetone (13.9%), tagetone (9.8%) and ocimene (2.4%); the main compounds in the hydrolate were cis-myroxide (44.66%), followed by cis- tagetone (23.84%), trans-tagetone (12.24%), linalool oxide (5.48%) and dihydrotagetone (4.04%). The significant contribution of the present study is the extraction techniques and chemical profile of tagetes elliptica extracts.