Chemical composition and antioxidant and anticandidal activities of essential oils from different wild Moroccan Thymus species

Chaima Alaoui Jamali, Laila El Bouzidi, Khalid Bekkouche, Hassani Lahcen, Mohammed Markouk, Hans Wohlmuth, David Leach, Abdelaziz Abbad

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    81 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Samples of the aerial parts of Thymus broussonetii, T. ciliatus, T. leptobotrys, T. maroccanus, T. pallidus, T. satureioides, and T. serpyllum collected from different natural regions in southern and southwestern Morocco were analyzed for their qualitative and quantitative essential oil profiles. In total, 46 compounds, representing more than 99% of the oils, were characterized. Monoterpenes, both hydrocarbons (12.9-58.0%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (38.8-81.1%), were the principal classes of compounds for most of the thyme species studied. Cluster analysis allowed the classification of the species into three main groups: a carvacrol group (Group I), comprising the species T. maroccanus and T. leptobotrys, a linalyl acetate and (E)-nerolidol group (Group II), represented by T. serpyllum, and a thymol and/or carvacrol, γ-terpinene, and p-cymene group (Group III), composed of T. satureioides, T. broussonetii, T. ciliatus, and T. pallidus. The essential oils were screened for their antioxidant and anticandidal activities. The data showed that the oils obtained from T. leptobotrys and T. maroccanus (carvacrol group) possessed the highest antioxidant activities as assessed by the determination of the DPPH free radical-scavenging ability and the ferric-reducing potential. The anticandidal assays indicated that the highest activity was noticed for the essential oil isolated from T. leptobotrys.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1188-1197
    Number of pages10
    JournalChemistry and Biodiversity
    Volume9
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Keywords

    • Morocco
    • Thymes
    • Thymus plant
    • antioxidants
    • candida
    • essences and essential oils

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Chemical composition and antioxidant and anticandidal activities of essential oils from different wild Moroccan Thymus species'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this