In order to determine influence of extraction method on volatile oil composition of Artemisia annua L., steam distillation, hydrodistillation, organic solvent extraction, and headspace sampling have been applied. The relative abundance of volatile compounds from the odorous aerial parts of A. annua, obtained by different extraction techniques, was analyzed by GC-MS. Exactly fifty constituents were identified. The leaf and flower essential oil yield ranged from 0.9 to 2.3% (v/w). Oxygenated monoterpenes were predominant in all samples ranged from 42.6% for steam-distilled fraction of petroleum ether extract to 70.6% for headspace of plant material. Essential oils isolated by steam distillation and hydrodistillation indicate that A. annua belongs to artemisia ketone chemotype with its relative content of 30.2% and 28.3%, respectively. The principal constituent in headspace sample of plant material was also artemisia ketone (46.4%), while headspace of petroleum ether extract had camphene (25.6%) as the major compound. The results prove the combined approaches to be powerful for the analysis of complex herbal samples.

Hydrodistilled volatile oils from Achillea millefolium L., Arnica montana L., Artemisia absinthium L., and Artemisia annua L. were analyzed by GC/MS. One hundred sixty-seven compounds were identified in all samples, ranging from 74.3% to 96.4% of the total oil. A high percentage of oxygenated monoterpenes is the main characteristic of A. millefolium and A. absinthium oils with camphor (19.2%) and isoascaridol (21.9%) as the major constituents, respectively. In contrast, the main component of A. annua oil was oxygenated sesquiterpene selina-3,11-dien-6-α-ol (9.6%), while the chemical composition of A. montana oil was characterized by a high content of fatty acids with n-hexadecanoic acid (16.1%) as the main constituent. Antioxidant activity was tested using four different methods, DPPH, ABTS, Reducing power, and Phosphomolybdenum assay. The highest antioxidant activity had essential oil of A. montana using DPPH and Phosphomolibdenum assay, A. millefolium in ABTS method, while A. absinthium oil showed the best ability to reduce Fe ions.

Phenolic acids and their derivatives found in nature are well-known for their potential biological activity. In this study, two amides derived from trans-caffeic/ferulic acid and dopamine were synthesized and characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), mass spectrometry, proton and carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The compounds were tested for the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from Electrophorus electricus and for antioxidant activity by scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-pycrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH^•) and 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical cation (ABTS^•+), reducing ferric ions, and ferrous ions chelation. N-trans-Feruloyldopamine displayed the highest inhibitory effect on AChE with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 8.52 μM. In addition, an in silico study was done to determine the most favorable AChE cluster with the synthesized compounds. Further, these clusters were investigated for binding positions at the lowest free binding energy. Both synthesized hydroxycinnamates were found to be better antioxidants than the parent acids in in vitro tests applied. N-trans-Caffeoyldopamine showed the best antioxidant activity in the three tested methods—against non-biological stable free radicals IC₅₀ 5.95 μM for DPPH^•, 0.24 μM for the ABTS^•+ method, and for reducing power (ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE) 822.45 μmol/mmol)—while for chelation activity against Fe²⁺ ions N-trans-feruloyldopamine had slightly better antioxidant activity (IC₅₀ 3.17 mM).

Satureja is a genus of the well-known medicinal plants of Lamiaceae family that comprises numerous species growing wild in the Mediterranean area. The essential oils of Satureja visianii Šilic and Satureja montana L., growing together at the same habitat under similar environmental conditions, were subjected to detailed gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis in order to compare their chemical composition. S. visianii Šilic is a stenoendemic species with narrow geographical distribution limited to only one locality, Pelješac Peninsula in Croatia. More than one hundred twenty compounds were identified in both plant oils representing 90.4 % - 99.5 % of the total oil. The most abundant components in S. visianii essential oil were viridiflorol (17.9 %), borneol (12.6 %) and camphor (6.5 %), while S. montana oil was rich in phenolic compounds carvacrol (59.1 %) and thymol (20.1 %).

The aim of this work was the qualitative and quantitative determination of selected phenolic compounds in three Crataegus species grown in Bosnia. Crataegus plants are consumed for medicinal purposes and as foodstuff in the form of canned fruit, jam, jelly, tea, and wine. Two samples of plant material, dry leaves with flowers, and berries of three Crataegus species—Crataegus rhipidophylla Gand., Crataegus x subsphaericea Gand., and Crataegus x macrocarpa Hegetschw.—were analyzed. Twelve ethanolic extracts were isolated from the selected plant material using Soxhlet and ultrasound extraction, respectively. Soxhlet extraction proved to be more effective than ultrasound extraction. A simple and sensitive method, high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection, HPLC-ED, was used for the simultaneous determination of phenolic acids and flavonoids in Crataegus species. The content of gallic acid in the extracts ranged from 0.001 to 0.082 mg/g dry weight (DW), chlorogenic acid from 0.19 to 8.70 mg/g DW, and rutin from 0.03 to 13.49 mg/g DW. Two flavonoids, vitexin and hyperoside, commonly found in chemotaxonomic investigations of Crataegus species, were not detected in the examined extracts. In general, leaves with flowers samples are richer in gallic acid and rutin, whereas the berries samples are richer in chlorogenic acid. Distinct similarities were found in the relative distribution of gallic acid among the three species. Extracts of C. x macrocarpa had the highest content of all detected compounds, while significant differences were found in rutin content, depending on the plant organ. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting content of phenolic compounds in Crataegus rhipidophylla Gand., Crataegus x subsphaericea, and Crataegus x macrocarpa from Bosnia.