The present study was conducted to evaluate the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of the essential oils and ethanol extracts of Ocimum basilicum L. obtained from Assiut, Minia and BeniSuef of Egypt. The major constituents of sweet basil essential oils from three locations were linalool, estragole, methyl cinnamate, bicyclosesquiphellandrene, eucalyptol, α-bergamotene, eugenol, γ-cadinene and germacrene D by the method of GC–MS. The relative concentration of these compounds varies. The basil extracts contained appreciable levels of total phenolic contents and exhibited good DPPH radical scavenging capacity higher than that of essential oils. The highest TPC (82.45 mg PE/g) and maximum radical scavenging activity with IC₅₀ value (1.29 mg/mL) was obtained from Minia basil extract. High correlation between antioxidant activity and total phenolic contents of basil extracts was observed. High variation in free radical scavenging activity of essential oils was found. The essential oil from Minia basil showed high activity in DPPH radical scavenging with IC₅₀ (11.23 mg/mL) and contained the highest content of phenolic (41.3 mg PE/g). On contrary, low correlation between antioxidant activity and total phenolic contents of basil essential oils from different locations. The results of the present investigation demonstrated significant variations in the antioxidant activities of sweet basil essential oils and extracts from Egypt.

The present study was conducted to assay the antioxidant activities of essential oils and ethanol extracts of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) seeds from Egypt and China. The major components of the Egyptian fennel essential oil were estragole (51.04%), limonene (11.45%), -fenchone (8.19%) and trans-anethole (3.62%) by GC–MS analysis. Whereas, the major constituents of Chinese fennel essential oil were trans-anethole (54.26%), estragole (20.25%), l-fenchone (7.36%) and limonene (2.41%). The fennel seed extracts from Egypt and China contained appreciable levels of total phenolic contents (42.24 and 30.94 mg PE/g, respectively). The extracts exhibited good DPPH radical scavenging capacity with IC₅₀ (6.34 and 7.17 mg/g), respectively. A high variation in free radical scavenging activities of essential oils was observed. The Chinese fennel essential oil showed high activity in DPPH radical scavenging with IC₅₀ (15.66 mg/g). The Egyptian fennel essential oil showed very low activity with IC₅₀ (141.82 mg/g). The results of the present investigation demonstrated significant variations in the antioxidant activities of fennel essential oils and extracts from Egypt and China.