<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of three major antioxidants of <italic>Nigella sativa</italic>: thymoquinone (TQ), carvacrol (CR) and thymol (THY), under different stress conditions using HPLC and LC-MS/MS. Forced degradation for each compound was performed under different conditions, including oxidation, hydrolysis, photolysis and thermal decomposition. The results showed that both CR and THY were stable under the studied conditions, whereas TQ was not affected by acidic, basic and oxidative forced conditions but the effect of light and heat was significant. The degradation products of TQ were further investigated and characterized by LC-MS/MS. HPLC-UV method has been fully validated in terms of linearity and range, the limit of detection and quantitation, precision, selectivity, accuracy and robustness. The method was successfully applied to quantitative analysis of the principal antioxidants of <italic>Nigella sativa</italic> TQ, CR and THY in different phytopharmaceuticals.</p></abstract>

The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of three major antioxidants of Nigella sativa: thymoquinone (TQ), carvacrol (CR) and thymol (THY), under different stress conditions using HPLC and LC-MS/MS. Forced degradation for each compound was performed under different conditions, including oxidation, hydrolysis, photolysis and thermal decomposition. The results showed that both CR and THY were stable under the studied conditions, whereas TQ was not affected by acidic, basic and oxidative forced conditions but the effect of light and heat was significant. The degradation products of TQ were further investigated and characterized by LC-MS/MS. HPLC-UV method has been fully validated in terms of linearity and range, the limit of detection and quantitation, precision, selectivity, accuracy and robustness. The method was successfully applied to quantitative analysis of the principal antioxidants of Nigella sativa TQ, CR and THY in different phytopharmaceuticals.

Stability study of thymoquinone, carvacrol and thymol using HPLC-UV and LC-ESI-MS

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry Faculty of Pharmacy

Department of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Department Faculty of Pharmacy

Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy

Acta Pharmaceutica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of three major antioxidants of Nigella sativa: thymoquinone (TQ), carvacrol (CR) and thymol (THY), under...

Stability study of thymoquinone, carvacrol and thymol using HPLC-UV and LC-ESI-MS

Published Online: Feb 17, 2020

Page range: 325 - 342

Accepted: Sep 30, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2020-0028

Keywords
thymoquinone, carvacrol, thymol, HPLC-UV, LC-MS/MS, stability

© 2020 Rabab M. Soliman et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Stability study of thymoquinone, carvacrol and thymol using HPLC-UV and LC-ESI-MS

Published Online: Feb 17, 2020

Page range: 325 - 342

Accepted: Sep 30, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/acph-2020-0028

Keywordsthymoquinone, carvacrol, thymol, HPLC-UV, LC-MS/MS, stability

© 2020 Rabab M. Soliman et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
thymoquinone, carvacrol, thymol, HPLC-UV, LC-MS/MS, stability