Phytochemical evaluation of some natural populations of Achillea, Hypericum and Thymus from Romanian Eastern Carpathians used in traditional medicine

The phytochemical composition from the analyzed species was investigated in order to be used in phytopreparations for promoting ethnobotanical traditions from the Eastern Carpathians mountain range. The main phenolic compounds from Achillea samples identified by RP-HPLC-UV are apigenin, luteolin, apigenin-7-glucoside, luteolin-7-glucoside, caffeic acid and chlorogenic acid; the highest concentration was found in A. millefolium and A. distans methanolic extracts and the lowest concentration was observed for A. pannonica. For Hypericum samples we identified the major phenolic compounds as hyperoside and quercetin. A raised content for hyperoside (721.80mg/100g d.w.) and quercetin (1017.62mg/100g d.w.) was found in H. perforatum samples. Important amounts were observed also for H. maculatum samples (altitude: 1000m). By the same method we identified and determined some of the major phenolic compounds for Thymus wild populations: chlorogenic acid (37.51mg/100g d.w. for T. glabrescens), rosmarinic acid (1083.8–1545.39mg/100g d.w. for T. pulegioides), apigenin (20.46mg/100g d.w for T. pulegioides ssp. montanus) and luteolin (10.47mg/100g d.w. for T. pulegioides ssp. montanus) [1]. Essential oils from T. glabrescens samples, analyzed by GC/MS, contain a great spectrum of compounds.

Acknowledgements: The work is sustained in the PNCDI-2 program financed by the Romanian Government – National R&D Agency.

References: 1. Stahl-Biskup E., Sáez F., Thyme: The Genus Thymus, 1st edition, Taylor & Francis, London (2002), 330pp.