Mohammad Amin Mehrnia - Department of Food Science and Technology, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad university, Shoushtar, Iran
Aigin Bashti - Department of Chemistry, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad university, Shoushtar, Iran
Hasan Majdi Nasab - Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Shoushtar Branch, Islamic Azad university, Shoushtar, Iran

Spearmint (Mentha spicata L.), oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) are used as traditional medicines, culinary herbs and food flavorings. All samples collected from Khuzestan province, Iran and plant extracts prepared using Clevenger apparatus. Antioxidant capacity and major parameters affecting antioxidant properties including total phenolics, flavonoids and vitamin C were evaluated using aqueous extract. Chemical composition of essential oil was evaluated be GC/MS analysis. Results showed high antioxidant capacity of thyme (IC۵۰=۱۰۳.۷۸), followed by spearmint and oregano (IC۵۰ of ۱۴۳.۸۷ and ۱۶۴.۰۱ respectively). As previous studies confirmed high correlation of total phenolics, flavonoids and ascorbic acid with antioxidant capacity, thyme had the highest bioactive compounds comparing to other extracts. The highest chemical compounds in thyme, oregano and spearmint were menthol (۵۸.۳%), menthol (۴۰.۱%) and thymol (۳۹%) respectively. By increasing public interests to natural components, the aim of our study was evaluating antioxidant and bioactive components of plants used locally and try to find and screen new and natural compound for substituting synthetic antioxidant like, BHT.

Spearmint, Thyme, Oregano, Antioxidant, DPPH, Total phenolics