Comparative analysis of content and composition of essential oils of Thymus vulgaris L. from different regions of Europe
Erinevatest Euroopa piirkondadest pärineva Thymus vulgaris’e eeterliku õli koostis
Raal A. Gontova T. Palmeos M. Orav A. Sayakova G. Koshovyi O.
2024Estonian Academy Publishers
Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences
2024#73Issue 4332 - 344 pp.
Common thyme (Thymus vulgaris L., Lamiaceae) is one of the most wellknown plants in the world, widely used in medicine, culinary arts, and cosmetics. The aim of this study was to analyse the content and composition of essential oils (EO) obtained from the T. vulgaris commercial samples grown in Estonia and in various European countries. Gas chromatography was used to characterize the quality and diversity of chemotypes of the studied plant raw material of different origins. The samples of the T. vulgaris herb contained 3–28 mL/kg of EO, and in five samples it was below the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur.) requirement (minimum 12 mL/kg). In total, 44 EO compounds were identified in the essential oils of the studied T. vulgaris samples. Among them, five principal compounds were carvacrol (2.3–87.5%), thymol (0.9–71.2%), pcymene (0.3–26.0%), γterpinene (0.1– 16.1%), and (E)βcaryophyllene (0.6–9.2%). It was concluded that the main compound of T. vulgaris EO (n = 37) was thymol with an average content of 41.1%. Monoterpenoids (90.5%) and sesquiterpenoids (5.7%) were the most dominating groups of terpenoids in the studied EO. Regarding the minimum and maximum content of key compounds in EO, none of the studied samples (n = 22) fully met the requirements of Ph. Eur. 11. The content of the four most important terpenoids (thymol, carvacrol, pcymene, and γterpinene) in the EO of T. vulgaris does not change much from the beginning to the end of the flowering period. Correlations between the content of the most important (>2%) components (n = 14) of the studied EO (n = 37) showed a level >0.9 in several cases. Among seven studied chemotypes of T. vulgaris EO, five contained thymol as one of the main components.
carvacrol , chemotype , common thyme , gas chromatography , pcymene , thymol , γterpinene
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Institute of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, Tartu, 50411, Estonia
National University of Pharmacy, Pushkinska 53, Kharkiv, 61002, Ukraine
Institute of Chemistry, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 15, Tallinn, 12618, Estonia
Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University, Tole Bi 94, Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Institute of Pharmacy
National University of Pharmacy
Institute of Chemistry
Asfendiyarov Kazakh National Medical University
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