HERBAL FORMULATIONS OF THYMUS SERPYLLUM L. AND HYPERICUM PERFORATUM L. FROM SOUTHERN ITALY: PREPARATION AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION

The present study was designed to characterize the phenolic compounds of Thymus serpyllum L. and Hypericum perforatum L. The extraction process was carried out through the use of a Kumagawa extractor. The solvents (hexane, diethyl ether, acetate ethyl and methanol) were chosen in order of increasing polarity. The methanol soluble fractions were analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS). High performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) method was used for the phenolic compounds analysis. 14 phenolic compounds were identified in the Thymus serpyllum L., five of which were phenolic acids, nine flavan-3- ols. Moreover, this methodology allowed the separation of up to 14 constituents in methanolic Hypericum perforatum L. extract, covering various classes of plant secondary metabolites, namely hydroxycinnamic acids, flavanols including flavonol glycosides and flavonol aglyca, biflavone and a naphthodianthrone