Phytochemical screening and antioxidant activity of four Moroccan Thymus species: T. leptobotrys Murb. , T. pallidus Batt. , T. broussonetti Boiss. and T. maroccanus Ball

Abstract

In this study, four species of Thymus (T. leptobotrys Murb. , T. pallidus Batt. , T. broussonetti Boiss. and T. maroccanus Ball.) were studied. The phytochemical screening revealed that leaves and steams of the four species, in general, contain tannins, flavonoids, coumarins, saponins, carotenoids, reducing sugars, quinones, terpenoids, steroids and triterpenoids. The antioxidant effects of methanolic extracts from Moroccan Thymus species were studied using two experiments having different mechanisms. The antioxidant activity was measured by 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) reduction spectrophotometric method and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). The results of antioxidant activity were different for each species depending on the applied test. The highest activity is presented by DPPH in the stems methanolic extract of T. broussonetti Boiss. (IC50=0.132±0.034 mg/mL). However, the test of FRAP showed that T. pallidus Batt. has the highest antioxidant activity (EC50=0.095±0.001 mg/mL).

Keywords

• thymus, phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity, dpph, ic50, frap, ec50