Abstract
In the literature, greener analytical approaches for determining thymol in its commercial formulations, plant-based phytopharmaceuticals, and biological fluids are scarce. As a result, the goal of this study is to develop and validate a normal-phase “high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC)” method for determining thymol in commercial formulations, essential oils, traditional extracts (TE), and ultrasound-based extracts (UBE) of Thymus vulgaris and Origanum vulgare obtained from various geographical regions. The greener mobile phase for thymol analysis was a binary combination of cyclohexane and ethyl acetate (85:15, v/v). The derivatized densitometric analysis of thymol was carried out under visible mode at 530 nm utilizing anisaldehyde-sulfuric acid as a derivatizing/visualizing agent. In the 10–2000 ng/band range, the greener normal-phase HPTLC method was linear. Furthermore, for thymol analysis, the proposed analytical approach was simple, quick, inexpensive, accurate, precise, robust, sensitive, and greener. The thymol contents in commercial formulation were computed as 7.61% w/w. In general, the thymol contents were maximum in essential oils of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare compared to the other sample matrices studied. The thymol contents of TE of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare of different geographical regions were significantly low compared to their UBE extract. Using 12 distinct components of green analytical chemistry, the overall “analytical GREEnness (AGREE)” scale for the proposed analytical approach was computed 0.79, showing the good greener nature of the proposed analytical approach. Overall, the greener normal-phase HPTLC technique was found to be reliable for determining thymol in commercial formulations and plant-based phytopharmaceuticals.
Highlights
These data of “LOD and LOQ” for the proposed analytical approach showed the sensitivity for thymol analysis in its commercial formulation, essential oils, traditional extracts (TE), and ultrasound-based extracts (UBE) of different geographical regions
The highest densitometric response for thymol in pure form and commercial formulation, essential oils of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare, TE of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare, and UBE of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare was found at 530 nm after derivatization with anisaldehyde-sulfuric acid at visible mode
The peak purity/specificity for the proposed analytical approach was suggested by the similar UV-absorption spectra, Retardation factor (Rf) values, and detection wavelength of thymol in pure thymol, commercial formulation, essential oils of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare, TE of T. vulgaris and O. vulgare, and UBE of T. vulgaris and
Summary
Thymol had shown the variety of therapeutic activities such as analgesic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, larvicidal, acaricidal, antimeishmanial, antiepileoptogenic, radioprotective, anti-hemolytic, and wound healing properties [6,7,8]. It is used in a number of food and pharmaceutical items as a flavoring agent [8]. Due to wide pharmacological and pharmaceutical application of thymol, suitable and greener analytical approaches are required for its qualitative and quantitative analysis
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have