Volatile‐Driven Antioxidant Activity of Pomelo Peel Essential Oil: Bridging Chemical Composition and Cellular Redox Modulation

Pomelo ( Citrus maxima ) peel essential oil is a volatile‐terpenoid‐rich plant extract that may exhibit antioxidant‐associated effects in biological systems. However, the relationship among its chemical composition, conventional antioxidant capacity, and cellular effects under oxidative stress remains insufficiently defined. This study integrated gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) profiling with chemical antioxidant assays and an SH‐SY5Y cell‐based oxidative‐stress model. Under the selected analytical and data‐processing conditions, limonene was the only compound confidently identified and integrated by GC–MS. In chemical assays, pomelo peel essential oil showed moderate DPPH radical‐scavenging and ferric‐reducing activities compared with the hydrophilic reference antioxidants Trolox and ascorbic acid. Cellular effects were evaluated separately in SH‐SY5Y cells exposed to H 2 O 2 ‐induced oxidative stress. Pomelo peel essential oil was tested at 25, 50, and 100 μg/mL using cotreatment and pretreatment protocols. In the cotreatment model, cells were exposed simultaneously to the essential oil and H 2 O 2 , whereas in the pretreatment model, cells were incubated with the essential oil before H 2 O 2 challenge. Pomelo peel essential oil attenuated intracellular ROS accumulation and lipid peroxidation and improved cell viability, with clearer effects at 50 and 100 μg/mL. Pretreatment generally produced stronger cytoprotective effects than cotreatment. These findings indicate that conventional chemical antioxidant assays alone may not fully predict cellular antioxidant‐associated effects, particularly for lipophilic essential oils. Pomelo peel essential oil therefore showed cytoprotective activity in an SH‐SY5Y oxidative‐stress model, although the contributing constituents and underlying molecular mechanisms require further investigation.