Phenolic Compounds and Biological Activity of Selected Mentha Species

• Published in: Plants (Basel) 2021-03, Vol.10 (3), p.550
• Main Authors: Ćavar Zeljković, Sanja, Šišková, Jana, Komzáková, Karolína, De Diego, Nuria, Kaffková, Katarína, Tarkowski, Petr
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: antioxidant activity; Antioxidants; Biological activity; Chemical composition; Environmental conditions; Equivalence; Flavonoids; Food; Food industry; Gallic acid; Genotype & phenotype; Hesperidin; Hyperpigmentation; Kaempferol; Kojic acid; LC–MS/MS; Limonene; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Mentha; Mentha sp; Menthol; Menthone; Metabolites; Oils & fats; Parameters; Pharmaceutical industry; Phenolic acids; phenolic compounds; Phenols; Quality assessment; Rosmarinic acid; Species; Spices; Terpenes; Tyrosinase; tyrosinase inhibition activity; Vitamin E
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants10030550

species are widely used as food, medicine, spices, and flavoring agents. Thus, chemical composition is an important parameter for assessing the quality of mints. In general, the contents of menthol, menthone, eucalyptol, and limonene comprise one of the major parameters for assessing the quality of commercially important mints. Building further on the phytochemical characterization of the quality of species, this work was focused on the composition of phenolic compounds in methanolic extracts. Thirteen species were grown under the same environmental conditions, and their methanolic extracts were subjected to the LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) profiling of phenolics and the testing their biological activities, i.e., antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibition activities, which are important features for the cosmetic industry. The total phenolic content (TPC) ranged from 14.81 ± 1.09 mg GAE (gallic acid equivalents)/g for to 58.93. ± 8.39 mg GAE/g for . The antioxidant activity of examined related with the content of the phenolic compounds and ranged from 22.79 ± 1.85 to 106.04 ± 3.26 mg TE (Trolox equivalents)/g for and , respectively. Additionally, (123.89 ± 5.64 mg KAE (kojic acid equivalents)/g) and (102.82 ± 15.16 mg KAE/g) showed a strong inhibition of the enzyme tyrosinase, which is related to skin hyperpigmentation. The most abundant compound in all samples was rosmarinic acid, ranging from 1363.38 ± 8323 to 2557.08 ± 64.21 μg/g. In general, the levels of phenolic acids in all examined mint extracts did not significantly differ. On the contrary, the levels of flavonoids varied within the species, especially in the case of hesperidin (from 0.73 ± 0.02 to 109. 39 ± 2.01 μg/g), luteolin (from 1.84 ± 0.11 to 31.03 ± 0.16 μg/g), and kaempferol (from 1.30 ± 0.17 to 33.68 ± 0.81 μg/g). Overall results indicated that all examined mints possess significant amounts of phenolic compounds that are responsible for antioxidant activity and, to some extent, for tyrosinase inhibition activity. Phenolics also proved to be adequate compounds, together with terpenoids, for the characterization of sp. Additionally, citrus-scented x could be selected as a good candidate for the food and pharmaceutical industry, especially due its chemical composition and easy cultivation, even in winter continental conditions.