Trends in Phytochemical Research (TPR) Journal Homepage: http://tpr.iau-shahrood.ac.ir Trends Phytochem. Res. 5(1) 2021 13-23 Original Research Article ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY KEYWORDS Chemical constituents, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Leptoderris brachyptera (Benth.) Dunn and Leptoderris micrantha Dunn essential oils GANIYAT K. OLOYEDE 1* , MICHAEL G. IBOK 1 AND THOMAS K. OJO 1 1 Organic Chemistry Unit, Department of Chemistry, University of Ibadan, Nigeria Received: 02 June 2020 Revised: 20 December 2020 Accepted: 29 January 2021 ePublished: 09 March 2021 Corresponding author: Ganiyat K. Oloyede Tel: +234 803 562 2238; Fax: +234 803 562 2238 E-mail address: oloyedegk@gmail.com Antimicrobial activity Antioxidant efect Essential oils Hydrodistillation Leptoderris brachyptera (Benth.) Dunn Leptoderris micrantha Dunn doi: 10.30495/tpr.2021.680481 solvents with a density generally lower than that of water (Mohammadhosseini et al., 2017; Olaoluwa et al., 2018). Previous scientifc reports have shown that essential oils exhibit pharmacological properties involving antiplasmodial, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiviral, antimutagenic, anticancer, insecticidal, anti- infammatory, and immunomodulatory activities (Dongmo et al., 2019; Mohadjerani and Asadollahi 2019; Mohammadhosseini et al., 2019). Also, the chemical constituents present in the essential oils could be linked to their therapeutic properties (Mohammadhosseini et al., 2017). Leguminosae is one of the most common family found in tropical rainforests and dry forests in the Americas and Africa and includes several important agricultural and food plants, such as Glycine max (soybean), Phaseolus vulgaris (beans), Pisum sativum (pea), Cicer arietinum (chickpeas), Medicago sativa (alfalfa), Arachis hypogaea (peanut), Ceratonia siliqua (carob), and Glycyrrhiza 1. Introduction S ince time immemorial, medicinal plants have been used traditionally in the treatment of numerous human diseases and are the primary source of medicine in rural areas of developing countries (Oloyede and Olatinwo 2014; Olaoluwa et al., 2018). Natural products derived from medicinal plants are also sources of biologically active compounds, many of which have been the basis for the development of new lead chemicals for pharmaceuticals. World Health Organization reported that nearly 80% of the world population rely on traditional medicines for primary health care, most of which involve the use of plant extracts for therapeutic purposes. Essential oils are volatile naturally occurring, complex compounds found in various medicinal plants characterized by a pungent odor, rarely colored, and soluble in organic © 2021 Islamic Azad University, Shahrood Branch Press, All rights reserved. This study examined the composition of the essential oils long with corresponding antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the leaves and stems of Leptoderris brachyptera and Leptoderris micrantha. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation method using Clevenger-type apparatus, while identifcation and characterization were done by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) technique. The antimicrobial property was evaluated by the agar difusion method and antioxidant activity was evaluated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical method. Essential oils yields range from 0.4%-0.8%. GC-MS analyses revealed twenty-six and fve compounds in leaves and stem of Leptoderris brachyptera representing 96.4% and 92.6% of which phytol (11.2%) and 4-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)benzeneamine (60.8%) as the most abundant components, respectively. Nineteen and thirteen volatile constituents were identifed from leaves and stems of Leptoderris micrantha representing 94.3% and 94.1% with phytol (30.7%) and palmitic acid (36.4%), respectively. However, the essential oils exhibited moderate antimicrobial and antioxidant activities.