Antioxidant Effective Aromatic Compounds

Abstract

Systems that destroy the effects of free radicals are called antioxidants. Today, reliability concerns on synthetic antioxidants are increasing. Therefore, the interest of the health and food industry in aromatic plants and natural antioxidants obtained from these plants has also increased. Aromatic plants have been used in many fields, such as food, medicine, cosmetics, and spices since the beginning of human history. Interest in plants, which are natural sources of antioxidants, has increased in recent years. Due to this interest, studies on the use of aromatic plants as natural antioxidant sources continue to increase day by day. As a result of research on this subject, it has been shown that aromatic plants contain many phytochemical compounds with high antioxidant activity. Among these compounds, especially phenols stand out as a secondary metabolite group and play an important role in the total antioxidant activity of medicinal plants. In fact, studies have shown that there is a positive relationship between the total phenol content of medicinal plants and aromatic plants and their antioxidant capacity. Phenolic compounds are obtained from plants and contain one or more hydroxyl groups in their aromatic rings. These biologically active components in herbal essential oils have been used as therapeutic agents, as they are natural sources of antioxidants, inactivate free radicals, reduce oxidative stress, and have been implicated in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food research fields. Thymoquinone is the main active ingredient of Nigella sativa L. It has been used in the treatment of various animal and human diseases for hundreds of years in world history. Thymol and carvacrol are the main components of known thyme, and its derivatives and are widely used in pharmacology. In this review, the antioxidant activities of some aromatic plants, whose importance is increasing day by day, and thymoquinone, thymol, and carvacrol phenolic compounds that can be used instead of synthetic antioxidants in the food industry are mentioned.