Planta Med 2009; 75 - PI31
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234795

Polyphenol content of aqueous preparations of three chemotypes of Lippia alba Mill N. E. Brown (Verbenaceae) by HPLC/DAD/ESI-MS

P Timóteo 1, A Karioti 1, SG Leitão 2, FF Vincieri 1, AR Bilia 1
  • 1Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Florence, Via U. Schiff 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
  • 2Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Bloco A, 2° andar, Ilha do Fundão, 21941–590, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A number of Lippia species (Verbenaceae) [1,2] are used for food preparations and largely employed in folk medicines. In continuing our studies on Lippia genus, we now report on the polyphenol content of three different chemotypes of Lippia alba Mill N. E. Brown. Lippia species are characterised by the presence of phenylpropanoids, namely verbascoside and correlated molecules and flavonoids [3,4]. Recently, three chemotypes of L. alba have been classified according to the diffrent percentages of citral (chemotype I), carvone (chemotype II) and linalool (chemotype III) in the essential oil [5]. A rapid and efficient HPLC-DAD-MS assay was optimized and validated for the aqueous preparations of three chemotypes of Lippia alba. The analytical method attended a satisfatory accuracy, specificity and reproducibility. Furthermore, a good separation of the different classes of constituents, iridoids, flavonoids and phenylpropanoids was performed. The aqueos preparations were lyophilised and submitted to the HPLC analysis s such.

All infusions had a lower content of polyphenols whencompared with the corresponding decoctions. The highest concentrations of total flavonoids were found in the decoctions of the leaves of chemotypes II (250mg/g) and III (235mg/g), while chemotype I showed a content of about 12mg/g. Total phenylpropanoids of chemotypes I and III were similar (about 135mg/g), while the content of phenylpropanoids in chemotype II was 180mg/g.

Chemotypes II and III of Lippia alba represent a good source of antioxidants, and decocting could be a simple and efficient extraction method of polyphenols.

Acknowledgements: This study was supported in part by the Programme Alβan, the European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America, (scholarship n°:E06M104124BR to P.T.). The authors would like to thank Professor Lyderson F. Viccini, from Laboratory of Genetic, University of Juiz de Fora (MG, Brazil) for providing the plant material.

References: [1] Bilia, A.R. et al. (2008) J. Pharm. Biom. Anal. 46:463–470.

[2] Timóteo, P. et al. (2008) Nat. Prod. Commun. 3:2017–2020.

[3] Pascual, M.E. et al. (2001)J. Ethnopharmacol. 76:201–214.

[4] Valentão, P. et al. (2002) Biol. Pharm. Bull. 25:1324–1327.

[5] Matos, F.J.A. et al. (1996) Brazilian J. Pharmacognosy 77:137–141.