Essential oil and smoke components of Carissa spinarum

ABSTRACT. Carissa spinarum Linn. is an incense plant traditionally used in Ethiopia and other countries for the treatment of numerous diseases. It also exhibits different biological activities, and different classes of natural compounds were previously reported from the plant. In this study, the essential oil from the roots of C. spinarum together with medicinal smoke obtained from burnt roots of C. spinarum were analyzed by GC-MS. The essential oil of C. spinarum roots was predominantly composed of 2-hydroxyacetophenone (82.97%). The dominant components in the n-hexane soluble fraction of the smoke derived from the roots of C. spinarum were 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (14.16%), 2-methoxyphenol (10.34%) and 2-hydroxyacetophenone (9.51%). On the other hand, the major components in the MeOH-soluble fraction were 2,6-dimethoxyphenol (17.51%), 2-methoxyphenol (13.02%) and 2-hydroxyacetophenone (10.98%). The smoke derived from the roots of C.  spinarum showed 92.60 ± 0.34% DPPH inhibition at concentration of 100 µg/mL. At the same concentration, standard ascorbic acid scavenged the DPPH radical by 96.09 ± 0.16%. This result supports the traditional medicinal use of the plant material as a skin-care and wound healing agent most likely due to the presence of simple phenols and other biologically active compounds.   KEY WORDS: Carissa spinarum Linn., Medicinal smoke, Essential oil, Antioxidant activity, Phenolic compounds Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2022, 36(3), 641-649.                                                                DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v36i3.13