Natural product profiling of four Lamiaceae species from Crete: Origanum microphyllum (Benth.) Vogel, Origanum dictamnus L., Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum (Link) Ietsw. and Satureja thymbra L. [Thesis (M.Sc.)]
2013
Tair Asma
Plants growing in the wild play an important role in the diet of people in different parts of the world. They tend to be drought-resistant and are harvested either in times of abundance or in times of need. These plants are usually an important source of nutrients and bioactive natural products. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phytochemical composition of four perennial plants of the Lamiaceae family growing wild in Crete, namely Origanum microphyllum (Benth.) Vogel, Origanum dictamnus L., Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum (Link) Ietsw. and Satureja thymbra L. in order to assess their potential use as an inexpensive and renewable source of added value natural products. The plant tissues were extracted with solvents of increasing polarity and studied for their essential oils composition, polyphenolic content and antioxidant potential. The essential oil of the plants was obtained by Likens-Nickerson distillation and then analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The phenolic profile of the four plants was analyzed by LC-DAD-MS (ESI+). The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated by luminol-Co(II)/EDTA chemiluminescence and DPPH assays. The results of both tests were similar. The ethyl acetate fraction of all plant extracts showed the highest antiradical activity with some exceptions. Comparing the results among the plant species, S. thymbra exhibited the highest antiradical activity in all cases. It should be noted that O. dictamnus has shown prooxidant activity in one of the assays, which is well explained in the following chapters.
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This bibliographic record has been provided by Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania