Phenolic composition of optimized ultrasound-assisted extracts from three aromatic and medicinal plants and their mixture

This study aims to compare the polyphenolic content and antioxidant activity of optimized extracts obtained from three plants (Pimpinella anisum, Rosmarinus offiicnalis and Laurus nobilis) and their combined mixture.,Ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE) combined with a four-factor, three-level Box-Behnken Design (BBD) was used to optimize extraction parameters (temperature, time, ultrasonic power, and ethanol concentration) for Laurus nobilis, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Pimpinella anisum, and used an augmented simplex centroid design to determine the optimal mixture. As results, Optimal UAE conditions were identified as 75°C, 56 min, 74% power, 4% ethanol for L. nobilis; 25°C, 51 min, 89% power, 17% ethanol for R. officinalis; and 50°C, 20 min, 60% power, 10% ethanol for P. anisum. HPLC-DAD was used to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in the optimized extracts. This analysis revealed that L. nobilis is rich in gallic acid, caffeic acid, cinnamic acid, salicylic acid, p-coumaric acid, anisic acid and epicatechin gallate., R. officinalis contains gallic acid, tannic acid, p-quinic acid, rosmarinic acid, quercetin hydrate, o-anisic acid and rutin hydrate; and P. anisum is dominated by ferulic acid, cinnamic acid, tannic acid, rosmarinic acid, quercetin dihydrate, naringin and gallic acid. The optimal mixture (64.9% P. anisum, 13.8% R. officinalis, 21.3% L. nobilis) showed an enriched polyphenolic profile dominated by rosmarinic acid, gallic acid, ferulic acid, sinapic acid, p-quinic acid, p-coumaric acid, cinnamic acid, sinapic acid, and rutin hydrate, reflecting synergistic interactions that enhanced total polyphenolic content, flavonoids, tannins, and antioxidant activity.,These findings suggest that the optimized extracts and their mixture could be exploited as natural bioactive components in the agri-food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic sectors.