Essential Oil of Thymus capitatus Hoff. et Link. from Matmata, Tunisia: Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Analysis and Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities

Abstract

Thymus capitatus Hoff. et Link. essential oil was constituted by thymol (89.06%) as a major component followed by p-cimene (5.04%) and γ-terpinene (3.19%) after analysis by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The antioxidant activity assays of the essential oil used in the inhibition of the radical cation 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) and the free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl showed high 50% inhibitory concentration values of 1.24 ± 0.05 mg/L and 0.59 ± 0.02 mg/L, respectively. The essential oil of T. capitatus was tested for antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (Salmonella analum, Listeria monocytogenes), Gram-negative bacteria (Escherchia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae), fungi (Mucor ramamnianus, Aspergillus ochraceus), and yeast species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Candida albicans) using the agar well diffusion method. It seemed that L. monocytogenes, E. coli, and K. pneumoniae bacteria were inhibited by the essential oil tested. A strong activity was also observed against fungi and yeasts.

Non-cytotoxic Thymus capitata extracts prevent Bovine herpesvirus-1 infection in cell cultures

“…In contrast, rosmarinic acid was found to be a minor compound in AE (Table 1). These findings are in accordance with those reported in previous studies on T. capitata from South Tunisia and other countries [14,19]. Mkaddem et al [19] showed that the major EO compound in T. capitata was thymol, using plants from the same region.…”

“…These findings are in accordance with those reported in previous studies on T. capitata from South Tunisia and other countries [14,19]. Mkaddem et al [19] showed that the major EO compound in T. capitata was thymol, using plants from the same region. Also, Behravan et al [14] showed that thymol and carvacrol were the major compounds in T. capitata EO from Iran.…”

Relation between Chemical Composition or Antioxidant Activity and Antihypertensive Activity for Six Essential Oils

“…Only phenolics presented a satisfactory correlation with the DPPH assay ( R 2 = 0.73, respectively). As reported in previous studies, the antioxidant activity of EOs was related to their phenolic contents (Ennajar and others 2009; Mkaddem and others 2010), hydrocarbons monoterpene (Chabir and others 2011), and sesquiterpenes compounds (Mukazayire and others 2011). …”

Research on the phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities of Tunisian Thymus capitatus

“…The demand for essential oils from these species is increasing for perfumery, cosmetic and medicinal applications (Hazzit et al, 2009). Thymes are well known for their antispasmodic, sedative, antioxidant (Safaei-Ghomi, Ebrahimabadi, Djafari-Bidgoli, & Batooli, 2009;Mkaddem et al, 2011), antimicrobial (Hazzit et al, 2009;Mkaddem et al, 2011), antifungal (Giordani, Hadef, & Kaloustian, 2008), antibacterial (Bhaskara, Angers, Gosselin, & Arul, 1998) and antiaflatoxinogenic (Razzaghi-Abyaneh et al, 2009) properties. In traditional medicine, infusions, leaves and flowers decoctions were used as tonic, anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, antitussive and carminative (Stahl-Biskup & Sá ez, 2002).…”