PRELIMINARY SCREENING FOR STUDY OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CLINOPODIUM VULGARE L. WATER EXTRACT

The chemical composition of water extract from the plant Clinopodium vulgare L. of Bulgarian origin is the aim of this study. GC/MS and UHPLC/HRMS were applied for a preliminary chemical screening and detection of some known health-beneficial biologically active plant secondary metabolites. The GC screening showed a low content of GC-compatible components, where decarboxilated rosmarinic acid is the dominant component of the ethylacetate extract from the water Clinopodium vulgare L. extract. In contrast, the LC screening develops a rich picture of hundreds components (25 of which were targeted by their exact monoisotopic mass of the (M-H)(-) ions, formed in the electrospray interface, including rosmarinic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, rutin, kaempferol, quercetin, betulinic and ursolic acids, and their identification compared by their retention with reference substances), and high content of triterpene saponins. The results of the chemical screening reported here is our first step to a more detailed chemical composition investigation of Clinopodium, vulgare L. of Bulgarian origin.