GC-MS analysis and in vitro antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activities of essential oil from aerial parts of endemic Thymus spathulifolius Hausskn. et Velen

Figures & data

Table 1. Chemical composition of the essential oil of aerial parts of T. spathulifolius.

No.	RI^a	Components	(%)
1	1212	1,8-Cineole	4.2
2	1250	γ-Terpinene	0.4
3	1259	3-Octanone	0.3
4	1276	p-Cymene	0.3
5	1452	1-Octen-3-ol	0.1
6	1536	Camphor	0.6
7	1594	Bornylacetate	1.2
8	1614	Terpinen-4-ol	1.7
9	1618	β-Caryophyllene	6.1
10	1691	α-Humulene	0.4
11	1709	α-Terpineol	1.3
12	1718	Borneol	16.7
13	1749	β-Bisabolone	0.9
14	1786	(E)-α-Bisabolone	0.6
15	1808	Cumin aldehyde	0.1
16	1862	p-Cymene-8-ol	0.5
17	1868	Thymyl acetate	0.4
18	2018	Caryophyllene oxide	3.0
19	2122	Cumin alcohol	0.2
20	2200	Thymol	50.5
21	2229	Carvacrol	7.7
		Total identified	97.2
		Essential oil yield	0.35

^aRetention index relative to n-alkanes on HP-innowax capillary column.

Table 2. Comparison of the major components and antioxidant activities of essential oils from different Thymus species.

Thymus species	Major components (%)	DPPH	ABTS	FRAP	CUPRAC	Phosphomolybdenum	References
T. spathulifolius	Carvacrol (49.0), thymol (17.8)	77.31% (at 1 mg/mL concentration)	–	–	–	–	Celen et al.28
T. kotchyanus	Thymol (39.7), γ-terpinene (11.4)	278 ± 1.9	–	–	–	–	Amiri36
T. daenensis subsp. lancifolius	Carvacrol (52.3) and Thymol(16.4)	99.6 ± 0.5	–	–	–	–	Amiri36
T. eriocalyx	Thymol (42.6) and carvacrol (32.3)	198 ± 1.4	–	–	–	–	Amiri36
T. hirtus subsp. algeriensis	Terpinen-4-ol (33.34) and 1.8 cineole (19.96)	85% (at 50 µg/mL concentration)	16% (at 50 µg/mL concentration)	–	–	–	Fatma et al.42
T. migricus	α-terpineol (30.6) and thymol (20.7)	45.36% (at 750 µg/mL)	–	–	–	–	Kucukbay et al.35
T. fallax	Carvacrol (66.1) and p-cymene (7.1)	65.96% (at 750 µg/mL)	–	–	–	–	Kucukbay et al.35
T. pubescens var. pubescens	Cis-carveol (29.6) and α-terpineol (10.8)	42.29% (at 750 µg/mL)	–	–	–	–	Kucukbay et al.35
T. capitatus	Carvacrol (65.9) and p-cymene (16.7)	21.1% (at 1 mg/mL)	–	–	–	–	Bounatirou et al.33
T. saturejoides	Carvacrol (25.3) and borneol (19.7)	184.00 ± 0.01	–	–	–	–	Kasrati et al.34
T. maroccanus	Carvacrol (72.6) and γ-terpinene (6.0)	353.01 ± 6.75	–	–	–	–	Jamali et al.38
T. linearis	Thymol (36.5) and carvacrol (9.5)	42.9 ± 1.4	–	–	–	–	Hussain et al.19
T. serpyllum	Carvacrol (44.4) and α-terpineol	34.8 ± 1.9	–	–	–	–	Hussain et al.19
T. longicaulis subsp. longicaulis  var. longicaulis	γ-terpinene (27.80) and thymol (27.65)	63.26% (at 0.5 mg/mL)	–	–	–	–	Sarikurkcu et al.43
T. eigii	Thymol (30.6) and carvacrol (26.1)	225.00 ± 5.25	–	–	–	–	Tepe et al.37
T. daenensis	Carvacrol (76.8) and linalool (6.9)	70.9%	1.5 mmolTE/µL oil	5.5 mmolFe2^+/µL oil	–	–	Saidi47
T. capitata	Carvacrol (88.98) and linalool (1.57)	44.16 ± 0.81	99.98 ± 0.01	–	–	–	El-Abed et al.44
T. ciliatus	Carvacrol (26.2) and thymol (17.3)	206.57 ± 10.48	–	184.05 ± 1.12	–	–	Jamali et al.38
T. boveii	Carvacrol (41.34) and p-cymene (19.80)	82.75% (at 0.5 mg/mL)	–	–	–	–	Tepe et al.39

Table 3. Radical scavenging activity (IC₅₀: mg/mL) and reducing power (EC₅₀: mg/mL) of BHT, trolox, thymol and essential oil of T. spathulifolius.

	Free radical s cavenging activities*		Reducing power activities*
Samples	DPPH assay	ABTS assay	CUPRAC assay	FRAP assay
T. spathulifolius	3.82 ± 0.16	0.22 ± 0.01	0.12 ± 0.01	0.34 ± 0.01
BHT	0.33 ± 0.02	0.35 ± 0.01	0.05 ± 0.01	0.14 ± 0.01
Trolox	0.06 ± 0.01	0.20 ± 0.01	0.07 ± 0.01	0.02 ± 0.01
Thymol	0.90 ± 0.03	0.14 ± 0.01	0.08 ± 0.01	0.17 ± 0.01

*Values expressed are mean ± SD of three parallel measurements.

Table 4. Phosphomolybdenum activities of BHT, trolox, thymol and essential oil of T. spathulifolius [at different concentration (0.5, 1 and 2 mg/mL) (absorbance values at 695 nm)].

	Concentration (mg/mL)*
Samples	2	1	0.5
T. spathulifolius	0.789 ± 0.025	0.502 ± 0.007	0.289 ± 0.005
BHT	–	–	1.735 ± 0.031
Trolox	–	–	0.870 ± 0.007
Thymol	–	–	0.111 ± 0.010

*Values expressed are mean ± SD of three parallel measurements.

Table 5. Enzyme inhibitory activity (IC₅₀: mg/mL) of reference drugs and the essential oil from T. spathulifolius.

	Anti-ChE activity*		Skin-care effect*	Anti-diabetic activity*
Samples	AChE	BChE	Tyrosinase	α-Amylase	α-Glucosidase
T. spathulifolius	0.95 ± 0.01	1.05 ± 0.01	11.03 ± 2.82	7.19 ± 0.14	1.08 ± 0.05
Galantamine†	1.51 ± 0.05	1.77 ± 0.01	–	–	–
Kojic acid	–	–	0.14 ± 0.01	–	–
Acarbose	–	–	–	0.98 ± 0.05	6.67 ± 0.01

*Values expressed are mean ± SD of three parallel measurements.

†µg/mL.

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