Zilha Aà ¡imoviÃÂ, Almina ÃÂauà ¡evi1, Davorka Zavrà ¡nik, Selma à  pirtoviÃÂ-HaliloviÃÂ, Belma ImamoviÃÂ, Jasmin Muà ¡anoviÃÂ
Objective: The medicinal plant species include those whose one or more parts containing biologically active substance can be used for therapeutic purposes or for the chemical synthesis of pharmaceuticals. Medicinal herbs contain natural antioxidants such as phenolic compounds, which attracted the attention of the public and scientists due to its positive effects on health.
The contents of total phenols in some medicinal herbs were determined in this paper. Methods: Determination was carried out on ten different types of medicinal herbs samples such as: Matricaria chamomilla L. (Asteraceae), Thymus serpyllum (Lamiaceae), Melissa officinalis (Lamiaceae), Mentha piperita L. (Lamiaceae), Teucrium montanum (Lamiaceae), Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Ericaceae), Salvia officinalis (Lamiaceae), Lavandula officinalis (Lamiaceae), Achillea millefolium L.(Asteraceae) and Calluna vulgaris (Ericaceae). Analyses were conducted to determine the differences between ethanol and water extracts of the dried herbs. The content of total phenols was determined spectrophotometrically using the Folin Ciocalteu.
Results: According to the results obtained, it was found that the samples, where solvent was distilled water, the highest content of total phenols had balm (64.98 mg GAE/100 g of DW) and the lowest content of total phenols had Lavandula officinalis (12.19mg GAE/100 g DW).
Ethanolic extracts of dried herbs Thymus serpyllum had the highest content (76.02 mg GAE/100 g DW) while the lowest total phenol content had Achillea millefolium (9.83 mg GAE/100 g DW). Conclusion: There is a difference in the content of phenolic compounds in medicinal plants. Extraction of phenolic compounds from plants depends on the solvent. As an effective solvent for the extraction of phenolic compounds from dried herbs 30% aqueous ethanol was showed. Dried herbs might be a potential resource of natural anti-oxidants.
