SEASONAL VARIATION AND ANDIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF Coridothymus capitatus L.

ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION

C. Gardeli, A. Mallouchos, M. Komaitis
Lab of Food Chemistry & Analysis, Dept. of Food Science & Technology, Agricultural University of Athens
INTRODUCTION

RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Coridothymus capitatus L., is a woody shrub 50-150cm height, known

as Spanish oregano, which is very common throughout the
Mediterranean area.

The plants of Coridothymus capitatus L. are

Table 1: % Volatile Composition of Coridothymus capitatus L.

during two years of collection

variable with respect to their essential oil composition, being either

Chemical

carvacrol or thymol rich or both phenols as main oil constituents [1,3].

category

Several studies report the volatile composition of Coridothymus

Monoterpene:

capitatus from various sites of the Mediterranean area; in all cases, the

Hydrocarbons

2005
February

May

February

May

capitatus L. contained a high percentage of phenols (73.476.2%), followed by monoterpene hydrocarbons (12.2-

2006
August

Table 1 demonstrates that the essential oil of Coridothymus

August

16.9%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (3.3-5.5%). As shown

in Figure 1, carvacrol was the major component of the oil

12.2

13.6

14.6

13.0

15.3

16.9

(73.3-75.8%), whereas thymol was

found only in low

amounts (0.1-0.5%). Statistical analysis showed significant

species were found to be rich in carvacrol or thymol or a mixture of

both, with p-cymene and -terpinene as the other major constituents

Oxygenated

[2]. The findings also revealed that essential oils produced by plants in

Sesquiterpene:

5.1

3.8

4.0

5.5

3.3

3.8

differences between seasons whereas no variations were

observed between the years. The results showed that the plant
material under study belongs to the carvacrol chemotype.

plain regions contained higher amounts of carvacrol while those

Hydrocarbons

2.5

3.1

3.1

3.2

3.0

2.2

Oxygenated

1.5

0.8

1.1

1.2

0.7

0.7

Phenols

73.9

76.1

74.8

74.2

76.2

73.4

Table 2: IC50 values for the essential oil of

Ketones

0.2

0.4

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.2

Coridothymus capitatus L.

produced by plants in mountainous regions contained higher amounts

of thymol.
The aim of this study was to investigate the seasonal variation of the
essential oil composition and the antioxidant activity (with DPPH
assay) of Coridothymus capitatus L. (Labiatae), grown in Zakynthos, a
greek island.

Esters
Total

EXPERIMENTAL PART

identified

0.04

0.03

0.06

0.04

Vegetative

stage

of

C. DPPH assay (IC50, g/L)

capitatus L.
95.52

97.9

97.9

97.4

98.7

97.2

Plant collection during February, May, August

Before flowering

0.3 0.1

In bud

0.5 0.1

Fruiting

0.4 0.1

(altitude:35m)

Figure 1: The main components of Coridothymus capitatus L.

during two years of collection

Drying
Ambient temperature-Shady place

Chopping

Before flowering

In bud

Fruiting
The free radical scavenging activity of the oil, expressed as IC50

Clevenger Hydrodistillation

Essential Oil

GC/MS
Volatile Composition

DPPH
Antioxidant Activity

pcy
m
en
e20
p05
cy
m
en
e20
ter
06
pi
ne
ne
-2
00
ter
5
pi
ne
ne
-2
00
bo
6
rn
eo
l-2
00
bo
5
rn
eo
l-2
Ca
00
6
rv
ac
ro
l- 2
00
Ca
5
rv
ac
ro
l- 2
00
6

300 ml water

3h distillation

30 g plant material

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

is shown in Table 2. It seems that the effect of season is very

small on the antioxidant activity of the oil. As compared to BHT
(0.08 0.02 g/L) and ascorbic acid (0.06 0.03 g/L) antioxidant
activity, the oil is less effective. The results showed that the
antioxidant capacity of Coridothymus capitatus L. was mainly
attributed to the high amounts of carvacrol (0.4 0.1 g/L).

REFERENCES
1. KOKKINI,S., KAROUSOU, R. AND HANLIDOU, E. Encyclopedia of
Food Sciences and Nutrition, Herbs of Labiatae, 30823090 (2003).
2. SKOULA, M. AND GRAYER, J. R. Flavour and Fragrances J., 20, 573
576 (2005).
3. KAROUSSOU, R., KOUREAS, N.D., KOKKININ, S. Phytochemistry,

The DPPH radical was dissolved in pure methanol (1.5x10-4M)

and various concentrations of 2 mL of sample were added to 2
mL of the DPPH radical solution. The control mixture consisted
of 2 mL of pure methanol and 2 mL of DPPH solution.

66, 2668-2673 (2005).