Bioactivities of essential oil and extract of Thymus argaeus, Turkish endemic wild thyme

BACKGROUND: Thymus argaeus Boiss. & Bal. (Lamiaceae), an endemic plant species of Turkey known as wild thyme, is traditionally used as a spice and a wild tea in the Inner Anatolia region of Turkey. In this study the composition of the essential oil and the antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of the methanolic extract and essential oil of T. argaeus were determined.RESULTS: The main components of the essential oil were linalool (499 g kg-1), [alpha]-terpineol (150 g kg-1), linalyl acetate (97 g kg-1) and thymol (94 g kg-1). The total phenolic, flavanol and flavonol contents of the extract were 83.31 ± 0.59 mg gallic acid equivalent g-1, 6.26 ± 0.00 mg catechin equivalent g-1 and 28.81 ± 0.21 mg rutin equivalent g-1 respectively. The antioxidant activities of the extract and essential oil determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging method were 830.18 ± 0.42 and 20.47 ± 2.3 mg g-1 respectively. The antimicrobial activities of the extract and essential oil against 13 bacteria and two yeasts were studied by the agar diffusion method. The micro-organisms most sensitive to the essential oil were Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while the micro-organism most sensitive to the extract was P. aeruginosa.CONCLUSION: Only the extract of T. argaeus could be used as a natural antioxidant, while both the extract and the essential oil could be useful as natural antimicrobial agents in food preservation. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry