Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oils of Thymus broussonetii Boiss. and Thymus algeriensis Boiss. from Morocco

Abstract

To characterize the chemical composition of the aerial part essential oil of Thymus broussonetii (T. broussonetii) Boiss. and Thymus algeriensis (T. algeriensis) Boiss. from Morocco. The essential oil used in this study was isolated by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus according to the European Pharmacopoeia. The chemical composition was investigated by using gas chromatography-retention indices and gas chromatography mass spectrography. The main compounds of T. brousonetii oil were borneol (27.6%), p-cymene (20.9%) and carvacrol (15.7%). The T. algeriensis oil was dominated by borneol (18.3%) followed by camphene (11.8%), camphre (10.0%) and myrcene (8.6%). The present work was also conducted to evaluate antioxydant activity of essential oils using a DPPH test system. The results showed that T. broussonetii oil exhibited higher antioxidant activity than the T. algeriensis oil (IC50 value: 90 μg/mL and 1800 μg/mL, respectively). These results suggest that the essential oil of T. broussonetii Boiss. and T. algeriensis Boiss. from Morocco may be a new potential source as a natural antioxidant.