Essential Oils Composition and Antioxidant Properties of Three Thymus Species

The essential oils of three wild-growing Thymus species, collected from west of Iran during the flowering stage, were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Under the optimum extraction and analysis conditions, 44, 38, and 38 constituents (mainly monoterpenes compounds) were identified in T. kotschyanus Boiss. and Hohen, T. eriocalyx (Ronniger) Jalas, and T. daenensis subsp lancifolius (Celak) Jalas which represented 89.9%, 99.7%, and 95.8% of the oils, respectively. The main constituents were thymol (16.4–42.6%), carvacrol (7.6–52.3%), and γ-terpinene (3–11.4%). Antioxidant activity was employed by two complementary test systems, namely, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical scavenging and β-carotene/linoleic acid systems. Antioxidant activity of polar subfraction of T. daenensis subsp lancifolius (Celak) Jalas was found to be higher than those of the others in DPPH assay, while nonpolar subfraction of T. eriocalyx (Ronniger) Jalas has most antioxidant activity in β-carotene/linoleic acid test (19.1 ± 0.1 μg/mL and 96.1 ± 0.8% inhibition rate, resp.).