Advances in Environmental Biology Mentha

Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
AENSI Journals
Advances in Environmental Biology
ISSN-1995-0756
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Phytochemical Screening and Chemical Composition of Essential Oils and
Hydrosols of Mentha Species from Morocco
1,2Nadia
1
2
Zekri, 1Smail Amalich, 2Mohamed Alaoui Elbelghiti, and 1Touria Zair
Laboratory of Chemistry of bioactive molecules and environment, University of Sciences Moulay Ismail-Meknes – Morocco.
Laboratory of chemistry General Physics – University of Sciences - Agdal- Rabat – Morocco.
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received 25 September 2014
Received in revised form
26 October 2014
Accepted 22 November 2014
Available online 1 December 2014
Keywords:
Mentha suaveolens Ehrh, Mentha
pulegium L., Mentha spicata L.
essential
oils,
Hydrosols,
Phytochemistry,
secondary
metabolites.
ABSTRACT
Mentha is one of the most common herbs which have been known for its medicinal and
aromatherapeutic properties since ancient time and for industrial and pharmaceutical
purposes. The objective of the present study was to validate the therapeutic properties
of some Mentha species from Middle-Atlas and to determine and compare the chemical
composition of essential oils and its co-products “hydrosols‟‟. Three selected species
are collected from Azrou region. The extraction of essential oils (EO) and hydrosols
(HE) was performed by hydro-distillation using Clevenger apparatus and then their
chemical composition was identified by gas chromatography coupled with mass
spectrometry (GC-MS). The results of chromatographic analyses have shown diverse
chemical profiles of studied species. M. pulegium L., M. suaveolens Ehrh and M.
spicata L. essential oils were dominated by pulegone (68.86%) and piperitenone
(24.81%), piperitenone oxide (74.69%), and Carvone (71.56%) and limonene (10.50%)
respectively. However, the mint hydrosols exhibited a richness of oxygenated and
soluble components and rarity or absence of hydrocarbons components. Phytochemical
tests on pennyroyal, M. suaveolens Ehrh and spearmint revealed the presence of main
secondary metabolites as tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, sterols and triterpenes and
saponins that justify their therapeutic virtues.
© 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.
To Cite This Article: Nadia Zekri, Smail Amalich, Alaoui Elbelghiti, and Touria Zair., Phytochemical Screening and Chemical
Composition of Essential Oils and Hydrosols of Mentha Species from Morocco. Adv. Environ. Biol., 8(17), 10-18, 2014
INTRODUCTION
The Lamiacea is one of the large plant families used as a framework to evaluate the occurrence of some
typical secondary metabolites. Most Lamiaceae accumulates terpenes and a range of other compounds in the
epidermal glands of leaves, stems and reproductive structures [29].
Mentha, one of the important members of the Lamiaceae family, is represented by about 19 species and 13
natural hybrids [21]. They are fast growing and invasive and generally tolerate a wide range of agro-climatic
conditions across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and North America [21,39]. This genus is the most common
herb which has been known for its medicinal and aromatherapeutic properties since ancient times [39]. In
Morocco, Mentha is represented by five main spontaneous species: Mentha pulegium L, Mentha aquatiqua L.,
Mentha longifolia L., Mentha arvensis L. and Mentha suaveolens Ehrh [23].
M. pulegium L., M. suaveolens Ehrh and M. spicata L. (M. viridis L.), known locally by Moroccan name
“Fliou”, Timijja or Merssita and Naâna respectively, are among the top national mints and most tremendously
used and commercialized [23]. They have been widely used in traditional medicine for its tonic, stimulating,
digestive, carminative, analgesic, choleric, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, sedative and insecticide properties
[53,29,49,39].
Mints oils are rich of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes that are important in food chemistry, chemical
ecology and pharmaceutical industry [13]. The monoterpenes like menthol, menthone, carvone and pulegone are
of economic importance and extremely used in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food, confectionary and beverage
industries [23,34]. The constituents as thymol and eugenol are now common ingredients of pharmaceutical
preparations [45]. The sesquiterpenes also have shown the pharmacologic activity against cancer [44].
The chemical composition of pennyroyal and M. suaveolens oils has been described by several studies
[22,11,42,44,29,19,37,52,57]. but the works which treated the chemical composition of spearmint oils stay
insufficient compared to these mints [1,42]. Pennyroyal oils are characterized by the preponderance of pulegone
Corresponding Author: Nadia Zekri, Laboratory of Chemistry of bioactive molecules and environment, University of
Sciences Moulay Ismail-Meknes – Morocco
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Nadia Zekri et al, 2014
Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
(70-90%) along with other monoterpenic ketones such as menthone, isomenthone and piperitenone [9]. The
main components of M. suaveolens Ehrh are piperitenone oxide, pulegone, carvone, dihydrovarvone, 1.2epoxyneomenthyl acetate or cis-piperitol [41,51,56]. However, M. spicata L. oils are dominated by S-carvone,
limonene, pulegone and 1,8-Cineole [4,39]. The mints oils and its constituents exhibit interesting biological
activities particularly antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and insecticidal [4,34,6,17,8,33,34,50,52].
Hydrosols or floral waters are the coproducts of essential oils but they are little known or unknown to the
public. Their chemical composition includes traces of essential oils and water-soluble components there is
approximately 0.02% essential oil in a hydrosol [41]. Although essential oils are powerful forces for health but
they are extremely concentrated whereas hydrosols are nearly free of irritating components such as the terpene
hydrocarbons; hydrosol therapy is just now being birthed as a complementary alternative medicinal [45]. They
have therapeutic properties. They have been used in cosmetic and culinary purposes [5]. They act as a healing
anti-inflammatory and antiseptic. They are useful in skin care products as astringents constrict and contract the
tissues and as a douche or taken as a tonic [45,5].
By comparison of essential oils, there are only few studies regarding the chemical composition of hydrosols
[43,9,46,49]. Furthermore, there is no previous study concerning the mint hydrosols especially M. pulegium L.
and M. spicata L. whereas M. suaveolens Ehrh hydrosol has been reported only by In this context, the purpose
of the present research is to investigate the chemical composition of three mint hydrosols; the chemical
composition of essential oils has been investigated and compared in parallel. The main secondary metabolites
occurring in the leaves and/or flowers, widely used by population of Middle-Atlas in traditional medicine, were
also identified.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Plant material:
Three mint species were selected to perform this study: Mentha pulegium L. (pennyroyal), Mentha
suaveolens Ehrh, M. spicata L. (spearmint). They were collected on July from Azrou region (Latitude:
33° 25′ 59″; Longitude: 5° 13′ 01″; Altitude: 1278m) in Moroccan Middle-Atlas. The climate is semi-humid
with strong continental influence with an annual average temperature of 20°C.
Essential oils and hydrosols extraction:
Dried aerial parts (leaves and/or flowers) of three mint species were subjected to steam distillation for 3 h
using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The essential oils were dried with anhydrous sodium sulphate and the
hydrosols were separated from the essential oil by decanting and collected and stored both separately in sterile
dark containers at 4°C before. For calculations of essential oil yields, three replicates were performed for each
plant material.
The aromatic essence contained in the hydrosols has been recovered by liquid-liquid extraction with an
organic solvent (ether) [43,9,46]. The extracted ether was evaporated by a vacuum rotary evaporator to recover
the dissolved oil for chromatographic analysis.
Chromatographic analysis of essential oils and hydrosols:
The chromatographic analyses were performed using a gas chromatograph Hewlett Packard (HP 6890
series) type equipped with a HP-5 capillary column (30m x 0.25 mm x 0.25 microns film thickness) , a FID
detector set at 250 ° C and fed with a gas mixture H2/air. The mode of injection is split; the carrier gas used is
nitrogen with a flow rate of 1.7 ml / min. The column temperature is programmed at a rate of 4 mounted ° C /
min from 50 to 200 °C for 5 min. The unit is controlled by a computer system type "HP ChemStation" managing
the operation of the device and to monitor chromatographic analyzes. GC-MS was carried out on chromatograph
Hewlett Packard (HP 6890) coupled to a mass spectrometer (HP 5973 series). Fragmentation is performed by
electron impact at 70 eV. The used column was a capillary-type HP 5SM (30 mx 0.25 mm x 0.25 mm). The
column temperature is programmed at a rate of 4 mounted °C/ min from 50 to 200 °C for 5 min. The carrier gas
is helium with a flow rate set at 1.7 ml / min. The injection mode is split type.
The constituents of studied essential oils and hydrosols were identified by comparison of their Kovàts Index
[34], calculated in relation to the retention time of a series of linear alkanes (C7 - C40). The calculated indexes
were compared with those of the chemical constituents gathered by Adams [2]. Their mass spectra were then
matched with those stored in the NIST library / EPA / NIH MASS SPECTRAL LIBRARY; Version 2.0, 2002.
Phytochemical tests:
The phytochemical study needed the preparation of plant material. Leaves and/or flowers of pennyroyal, M.
Suaveolens Ehrh and spearmint were dried in the open air, milled in an electric grinder and used to preparing
extracts, infusions and decoctions.
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Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
Selective extractions of homogenates were made specifically on each family of compounds studied. The
extracts have been obtained by extraction with solvents. The solvents used are petroleum ether, methanol,
ethanol, chloroform and distilled water.
The phytochemical screening was also based on several reagents. Research of alkaloids was performed by
Dragendorff reagent. Characterization of catechin tannins was carried out by iso amyl alcohol and hydrochloric
acid and gallic tannins by Stiasny reagent, sodium acetate and ferric chloride. To detect sterols and triterpenes,
we used acetic anhydride and concentrated sulphuric acid. Diluted alcohol hydrochloric acid, magnesium chips
and isoamyl alcohol were used to seek the flavonoids. Chloroform, dilute ammonia and hydrochloric acid have
to look for quinonic substances.
Characterization tests of different chemical groups were performed as described by [26,12].
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Yields and Chemical composition:
The yields have been calculated from dry plant material. The yield of M. suaveolens Ehrh, M. pulegium L.
and M. spicata L. essential oils obtained are 5.9, 1.8 and 3.9% respectively. The chromatographic analysis of
mints essential oils have identified twenty six compounds that represent approximately 99.10% for M. pulegium
L. and forty seven compounds which made up 99.61% of the total chemical composition for M. suaveolens EO
against thirty three for spearmint oil (96.07%). However, the mint hydrosols present different chemical profiles.
Twenty five compounds represent approximately 69.21% for M. pulegium hydrosol, seventeen compounds for
that of M. Suaveolens Ehrh (73.93%) while spearmint hydrosol contains nineteen compounds that present
58.28% of the total composition.
Oxygenated monoterpenes were the most abundant class of the components identified in both essential oils
and hydrosols. The sesquiterpenes were found with small contents in all EO, whereas the Monoterpene and
sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were totally absent in M. suaveolens hydrosol and with minor components in those
of pennyroyal and spearmint (Table 1).
The variation of yields and chemical composition of essential oils depends on several factors: the method
used, the used plant parts, the products and reagents used in the extraction, the environment, the plant genotype,
geographical origin, the harvest period of the plant, the degree of drying, the drying conditions, temperature and
drying time and the presence of parasites, viruses and weeds [31,1].
Table 1: Chemical composition of mints essential oils (EO) and hydrosols (Hydrolate extracts HE) from Azrou (Midde-Atlas).
Calculated
M. suaveolens Ehrh
M. pulegium L.
M. spicata L.
Identified compound
Kovàts
EO
HE
EO
HE
EO
HE
Index
Tricyclene
919
---------------0.20
α-Thujene
926
---------0.16
------α-Pinene
939
0.36
---0.17
0.52
0.37
5.88
α-Fenchene
945
---------0.15
---2.59
Camphene
954
------------------β-Pinene
979
0.65
---0.15
0.18
0.58
2.25
Meta-mentha-1(7) ,8-diène
1000
0.18
---0.02
--------α-Terpinene
1017
0.07
------0.15
------α-Cymene
1023
---------4.43
------p-Cymene
1024
0.13
---------------O-Cymene
1026
------0.07
---------1,8-Cineole
1028
---------4.75
---22.85
Limonene
1029
1.85
---0.90
---10.50
---γ -Terpinene
1059
0.13
------0.86
---0.27
Cis-sabinene hydrate
1070
0.53
---------------Para-mentha 3,8,diene
1072
-----0.01
---0.79
---Trans-sabinene hydrate
1098
0.06
---------------Terpinolene
1098
------------0.10
---Cis-thujone
1104
---------0.14
------1-octen-3-yl-acetate
1112
0.13
---------------Trans-thujone
1114
---------1.03
------Dehydro-sabina ketone
1120
0.05
---------------4-acetyl-1-methyl cyclohexene
1137
0.08
---------------Nopinone
1140
0.05
---------------Camphor
1140
---------1.88
---13.53
Trans-p-menth-2-en-1-ol
1140
0.57
---------------Isopulegol<neo>
1143
---0.12
------------Benzylacetate
1162
------0.07
---------Chrysanthenol cis
1164
------1.03
---------Borneol
1169
0.27
0.23
---0.59
0.78
3.14
Terpinen-4-ol
1177
0.71
0.27
------0.65
0.22
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Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
p-Cymen-8-ol
α-Terpineol
Dihydrocarveol neo
Trans-4-caranone
Myrtenal
Trans_pulegol
Coahuilensol, methyl ether
Cis-p-mentha-1(7),8-dien-2-ol
Pulegone
Carvone
Piperitone
Trans-myrtanol
Cis-carvone oxide
Perilla aldehyde
Bornyl acetate
Thujanol acetate neo iso-3
p-Cymen-7-ol
Thymol
α-Terpinen-7-al
Camphorquinone
Carvacrol
p-Vinyl-guaiacol
Citraldimethoxy
Iso-dihydrocarveol acetate
Methylo anisate
Peperitenone
Acetophenone-4‟-methoxy
Cis-carvyl-acetate
Piperitenone oxide
α-Yalengene
Daucene
β-Bourbonene
β-Elemene
Nepetalactone <4a-α,7-β,7a-α>
Nepetalactone <4aα,7α,7aβ>
Z-Caryophyllene
Longifolene
β-Caryophyllene
β-Coparene
α-Guaine
6,9-Guaiaene
Citronellylpropanate
Cis-muurola-3,5-diene
Spirolepechinene
Khusimene
Cis-cadina-1(6),4-diene
Cis-Muurola-1(14),5-diene
Bakerol
γ -Muurolene
Germacrene D
γ -Amorphene
4-epi-cis-dihydroagrofurane
Aciphyllene
γ -cadinene
butylatedhydroxytoluene
Trans-calamenene
α-cadinene
Germacrene D-4-ol
Spathulenol
Trans-sesquisabinene hydrate
Caryophyllene oxide
Presilphiperfiolan-8-ol
Globulol
1,10-di-epi-Cubenol
10-epi-α-cadinol
Hinesol
Torreyol
Himachalol
α-cadinol
Germacra-4 (15), 5,10(14) trien-1-α-ol
Shyobunol
1182
1188
1194
1195
1195
1214
1221
1230
1237
1242
1252
1257
1263
1271
1284
1286
1287
1290
1292
1294
1299
1309
1317
1329
1337
1343
1350
1364
1368
1373
1381
1387
1390
1392
1407
1408
1409
1419
1428
1439
1444
1447
1450
1451
1455
1463
1465
1466
1479
1479
1495
1499
1501
1513
1514
1522
1538
1575
1577
1580
1582
1583
1590
1619
1640
1640
1646
1653
1654
1686
1689
0.12
0.25
------------0.14
---2.34
---------0.44
0.17
---------------------------------1.17
------74.69
---0.11
---0.16
1.81
------0.27
1.68
------------0.09
0.16
0.68
0.81
------5.53
---0.30
---0.10
0.11
---0.77
0.09
---0.60
---0.26
---0.23
0.43
0.28
---0.05
---0.35
0.07
0.10
------------0.26
------------------0.32
---------------------1.74
------0.29
------0.10
0.14
---69.32
------------0.13
0.28
------------------0.50
---------------0.03
------------------0.20
--------------------------------------------
---0.17
------0.19
0.16
68.86
---0.07
------0.21
---------1.01
------0.04
0.13
---------24.81
---------------------------0.11
---0.04
---0.08
---------------------------------0.04
-------------0.09
------0.09
-----------------0.01
----------
------0.41
---------------2.32
------------------0.13
1.65
------39.37
------------10.05
---------------------------------0.58
------------------------------------------------0.36
-------------------0.63
---------------------------
---0.12
---2.75
------------0.16
71.56
------------------0.08
---0.10
------------2.07
---------0.44
---0.08
---1.07
0.09
------------0.76
0.16
---0.15
------0.12
---0.15
0.11
------0.61
---------------0.33
------0.14
0.13
------0.23
------0.30
------0.24
------
---0.10
1.23
------------0.28
---0.24
------------0.40
---------------3.56
---------0.65
------------------------------------0.47
---------------------------0.03
---------------------------------------0.28
---------------------------
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Nadia Zekri et al, 2014
Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
Caryophyllene 14-hydroxy-4,5-dihydro
Oxygenated monoterpenes
Hydrocarbon monoterpenes
Oxygenated sesquiterpenes
Hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes
Others
Total
1706
-82.83
3.37
2.37
10.86
0.18
99.61
--62.05
2.17
1.35
0.58
0.13
68.21
--87.12
1.32
0.23
0.23
0.2
99.10
--72.77
0
0.20
0
0.96
73.93
--76.41
12.34
3.6
1.21
2.51
96.07
0.14
45.55
11.19
0.42
0.65
0.47
58.28
The pennyroyal oil is dominated by pulegone (68.86%) and piperitenone (24.79%). Other compounds were
identified but at relatively small percentages such as chrysanthenol (1.03%), thymol (1.01%), limonene (0.9%)
and menth-2-en-1-ol (0.57%). However, pennyroyal hydrosol showed a different chemical composition which
characterized by predominance of carvacrol (39.37%) and piperitenone (10.05%); thymol reached 1.65% while
pulegone occurred at small rate (2.32%). Some constituents were found in hydrosol but absent in oil such as 1,8cineole (4.75%), α-cymene (4.43%), camphor (1.88%), trans-thujone (1.03%), α-terpinene (0.86%), borneol
(0.59%), α-thujene (0.16%) and α-fenchene(0.15%).
The chemical composition of that oil is similar to that reported by several studies already carried out in
Morocco. The EO of M. pulegium from Morocco is characterized by its high rate of pulegone. Two constituents
also characterize the essential oil from M'rirt but its rates are higher than those of Azrou: pulegone (71.97%) and
piperitenone (26.04%) while that from Khénifra is mainly composed of pulegone with a larger rate; it reached
81.46% [51]. Pennyroyal oil from Asilah (North east) studied by contains a very attractive percentage of
pulegone (80.28%). The content of pulegone in pennyroyal from Meknes is about 65% [10]. In Taouirt region
(North-East) 69.8% [3] in Rabat region (Ain Aouda), it is about 73.33% [9] and in Southern Morocco, it reached
85.4% [15].
Piperitenone oxide was the major compound of M. suaveolens hydrosol (69.32%). However, that from
France was dominated by other constituents: cis-cis-p-Menthenolide (67.3%) and pulegone (14.8%) [46]. The
main component of M. suaveolens essential oil was also piperitenone oxide but with a higher rate than hydrosol
(74.69%) followed by pulegone (2.34%). Other compounds were absent in hydrosol as limonene (1.85%), βpinene (0.65%), cis-sabinene hydrate (0.53%) and α-pinene (0.36%) while camphorquinone (1.74%), transmyrtenal (0.32%), Citral dimethoxy (0.29%), myrtenal (0.26%), isopulegol ˂neo˃ (0.12%) were present only in
the hydrosol.
The chemical composition of M. suaveolens essential oils varied from region to another in Morocco. The
M. suaveolens essential oil from M'rirt was dominated mainly by piperitenone oxide (81.69%) and piperitenone
(10.14%) [52]. The essential oil from Meknès is characterized by the dominance of piperitenone oxide 34%
(Boughdad et al., 2011). The same component reached (33.03%) thus pulegone (17.61%) in Oulmès region [6].
However, the chemical composition of the essential oil from Béni-Mellal [20] and Boulmane [17] is totally
different which pulegone (85.5%) and menthol (40.50%) are the major compounds respectively.
Spearmint oil was dominated by carvone (71.56%) and limonene (10.50%) with moderate amounts of trans4-caranone (2.74%), iso-dihydro carveol acetate (2.07%) and β-bourbonene (1.04%). The spearmint oil obtained
from Saîs valley (Morocco) was rich of carvone (73.01%), limonene (8.54%) and 1,8- cineole (6.70%) (El
Hassani et al., 2010) but that from Greece was characterized by the predominance of carvone (71.8%) followed
by 1,8-cineole (9%) but devoid of limonene. The same species from six regions of Egypt represented by carvone
with percentages varied from 42.23 to 73.18%, limonene from 5 to 43.84% and 1,8-cineole from 4.45 to 6.05% .
Though, the spearmint hydrolate exhibited an interesting chemical composition which the main component was
1,8-cineole (22.85%) and camphor (13.53%). Other constituents were presented in higher rates than oil as αpinene (5.88%), carvacrol (3.65%), borneol (3.14%), α-fenchene (2.59 %) and β-pinene (2.25%) while carvone
reached a low rate 0.24%.
Other components such as Piperitenone (10.05 and 0.10%), Borneol (0.59 and 0.23%) and Terpinen-4-ol
(0.18 and 0.27%) occurred both in M. pulegium and M. suaveolens hydrosols respectively.
The chemical composition of studied hydrosols seems very different when compared to the essential oils
from the same species. Previous works have reported similar results, hydrosols studied by [43,40,9,46] have also
shown the abundance of oxygen and hydrophilic compounds. Their richness of oxygenated compounds is due to
their ability to be soluble in water. However, the abundance of hydrocarbons in essential oils is due to their low
solubility in distillation water and hydrophilic molecule has been found to be dependent on solvent polarity. At
the distillation of a plant, essential oil become dissolved in the condensate water, oxygenated compounds such
as alcohols, esters, aldehydes and ketones are more soluble in the condensate [24,45]. Consequently, the
oxygenated molecules hydrophilic therein in large quantities whereas terpenes lipophilic compounds are
virtually absent from most time [41,14,9,46].
Phytochemical screening:
The results of phytochemical screening are assembled in Table 2. Different groups occurring in three mint
species were identified.
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Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
The results of the characterization tests allowed identifying the main chemical families containing in the
leaves and flowers of pennyroyal and in the leaves of both spearmint and M. suaveolens Ehrh. Pennyroyal and
M. suaveolens contain gallic tannins, saponins, flavonoids, sterols and triterpenes, alkaloids and mucilages.
However, spearmint is devoid of both tannins, saponins and less rich of alkaloids. The reducing compounds
exist in pennyroyal and absent in other mint species.
Table 2: Results of phytochemical screening of mint species by colored reactions.
Chemical group
Gallic tannins
Catechin Tannins
Anthocyanes
flavones
Flavonoids
flavonones
leucoanthocyanes
Alkaloids
Saponins
Free anthraquinones
Combined anthraquinones
Oses and holosides
Sterols and triterpenes
Reducing compounds
Mucilages
Cyanogenic glycosides
Pennyroyal
+
++
+
+(Foam index = 225)
+
+
+
-
Observations
M. suaveolens
+
+
++
+(Foam index = 105.5
+
+
-
Spearmint
+
+
++
+
-
The effective presence of some of them in the plant does not exclude its therapeutic properties [29].
Flavonoids are a kind of highly effective antioxidant and less toxic than synthetic antioxidants; antiulcer,
antispasmodic, anti-secretory, anti-diarrheal, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, blood pressure and protect against
cancer and cataract [18,16,7,12]. Alkaloids have different pharmacological activities such as strengthening the
heart activity, excitation of the central nervous system and nerves symptomatic, stimulating blood circulation
[29]. The presence of alkaloids may also justify the use of the plant in the treatment of certain diseases. The
tannins show the properties of vitamin D, they could be used to strengthen blood vessels and contribute to the
accumulation of vitamin C in the body [63, 29]. The saponins have a healing effect and sterols and triterpenes
have bactericidal properties.
These properties were linked to the identified classes of constituents in selected mint species. Therefore,
these plants exhibit important therapeutic effects. These results justified the wide use of these plants in
traditional medicine by people in Middle-Atlas.
Conclusion:
In the present research, we performed a phytochemical study of three mint species: M. pulegium L., M.
suaveolens Ehrh and M. spicata L., determined and compared the chemical composition of essential oils and
hydrosols. Pennyroyal, M. suaveolens Ehrh and spearmint oils were dominated mainly by pulegone (68.86%)
and piperitenone (24.97%), piperitenone oxide (74.69%), and carvone (71.56%) and limonene (10.50%)
respectively. However, mint hydrosols exhibited different chemical compositions that very abundant of
oxygenated monoterpenes and poor or lacking of sesquiterpenes; the main components were carvacrol (39.37%)
and piperitenone (10.05%), piperitenone oxide (69.32%), and 1,8-cineole (22.85%) and camphor (13.53%)
respectively.
Mint essential oils are important source of many constituents such as pulegone, menthone, limonene and
carvone that are usually used in the manufacture of industrial and cosmetic products. The richness of
hydrophilic components in studied mint hydrosols was attributed to their high solubility in water distillation.
Different secondary metabolites were identified: flavonoids, gallic tannins, sterols and triterpenes, alkaloids
and saponins. Therefore, pennyroyal, M. suaveolens Ehrh and spearmint can be seen as a potential source of
useful drugs. Further studies will be conducted in order to isolate, identify and characterize the bioactive
components occurring in these plants.
Essential oils and hydrosols exert great therapeutic properties but hydrosols are easy and inexpensive to
produce and more tolerated than essential oils. Further attempts should be made to characterize more the
chemical composition of the different hydrosols and assess their biological properties. Researches on biological
activities of some hydrosols will be published shortly.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are indebted to Mr. M. Ibn Tattou, Professor at Scientific Institute- Rabat, for botanical identification of
studied species.
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Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(17) September 2014, Pages: 10-18
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