Plant samples from several species and populations of the genus Sideritis (Labiatae) grown in Bulgaria (S scardica, S syriaca and S montana) were extracted with different solvents. Their antioxidant activities were determined by the β-carotene bleaching test (BCBT), 2,2 -diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH ž ) radical scavenging method and static headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC)and compared with the antioxidant activity of two reference compounds of different polarity, viz butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and rosmarinic acid. The pure reference compounds were applied in a ten-times lower concentration than the plant extracts. The highest antioxidant activity in the BCBT, close to that of BHT, was observed for the more apolar extracts. The inhibitory effect on β-carotene bleaching of the polar extracts and rosmarinic acid was much lower than that of BHT. The inhibition of hexanal formation in bulk safflower oil by most of S syriaca and S scardica extracts was as effective as BHT but less so than rosmarinic acid. S montana extracts showed weak antioxidant or even pro-oxidant properties. Extracts from butanol and from ethyl acetate and the total methanol extracts from all Sideritis plants studied showed a strong radical scavenging activity against DPPH ž , close to that of rosmarinic acid. S montana extracts were, as a whole, slightly weaker radical inhibitors than the extracts from the other two species. The antioxidant activity of Sideritis extracts was attributed to the presence of flavonoid and phenylpropanoid glycosides.

A kinetic analysis of inhibited lipid autoxidation in the presence of a phenol antioxidant and a hydroxy compound is proposed. It is based on studies of the dependence of the WLtn/Winh ratio (between the inhibited oxidation rates in presence and absence of a hydroxy compound) on the hydroxy compound concentration. This analysis permits establishing the mechanism of action of the hydroxy compound in the presence of different types of phenol antioxidants during inhibited lipid oxidation. The kinetic analysis has been applied to the oxidation at 80°C of triacylglycerols of sunflower oil (TGSO) inhibited by 0.1 m M hydroquinone, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) or a-tocopherol in the presence of different concentrations of l-tetradecanol (1-TD) and 1-octadecanol (1-OD). A linear character of this dependence is established during hydroquinone-inhibited oxidation of triacylglycerols of sunflower oil in presence of 1-TD. In the case of a-tocopherol this dependence is linear for both 1-TD and 1-OD. The equilibrium constant of interaction between the phenol antioxidant and the fatty alcohols is determined by the angle coefficient of the linear dependence. The hydroquinone-inhibited autoxidation of TGSO in the presence of 1-OD has shown a non-linear character of the dependence under consideration.A kinetic model describing simultaneous participation of 1-OD in reaction with both the phenol antioxidant and the lipid hydroperoxides is deduced. Studying the kinetics of BHT-inhibited autoxidation of TGSO in the presence of 1-OD, it has been shown that due to steric reasons there is no interaction between 1-OD and BHT, 1-OD participating in the process only by accelerating the decomposition of the lipid hydroperoxides.

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