POLYPHENOLIC STATUS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF THE HERB THYMUS SERPYLLUM L.

Phenolic compounds are the most numerous and the most studied group of plant biology activity compounds. Phenolic compounds participate in various metabolic processes, which cause their biological activity. All natural phenolic compounds are low toxicity and show a wide range of effects on the human body. The most promising area of applied research is the study of the antioxidant, antibacterial, cytotoxic properties of phenolic compounds in order to obtain safe drugs of natural origin for the pharmaceutical industry. The search for new sources of plant phenolic compounds can be an effective, environmentally and economically advantageous alternative to their synthetic analogues. Compounds of polyphenolic nature are almost the most numerous class of biologically active substances that exhibit a high antioxidant status and, as a result, have a wide range of pharmacotherapeutic activity. For the analysis, an alcohol-water extract of thyme herb obtained by infusing for 7 days was used. The content of flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids and the amount of polyphenolic compounds were determined spectrophotometrically in terms of rutin, chlorogenic acid and gallic acid, respectively. It was shown that the content of flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids and the sum of polyphenolic compounds in terms of rutin, chlorogenic acid and gallic acid in the investigated samples of thyme herb is 1.531, 0.505 and 5.478%, respectively. Antioxidant activity was determined in vitro. A 0.1% solution of adrenaline hydrochloride was used as a system that produces the superoxide radical, taking the autoxidation of adrenaline into adrenochrome in an alkaline environment. During the study of antioxidant activity, a sufficiently high level of it was found in the thyme herb extract, the indicators were 50% at the beginning of exposure, increased to 57,45% after 15 seconds and, gradually decreasing further, still remained sufficiently pronounced. It was calculated that the rate of the autoxidation reaction of adrenaline in the experimental sample with the addition of creeping thyme extract was 0.0310 ou/min, against the control sample – 0.0446 ou/min, where pure adrenaline was used, while the indicator of the percentage of reaction inhibition when using the tested extract was 30.33%.