Quantification of Phenolic Diterpenoids and Rosmarinic Acid in Salvia eremophila and Salvia santolinifolia by LC-DAD-MS

Methanol and aqueous-methanol extracts of two species of sage, Salvia eremophila and S. santolinifolia, were analyzed by LC-DAD-MS to determine their antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic active constituents. Rosmarinic acid (1); carnosol (2) and carnosic acid (3) were found to be the major constituents of all extracts. The concentrations of these phenolic compounds (1-3) in the methanolic extracts of S. santolinifolia (6.72±0.26, 1.59±0.22 and 9.35±1.58 mg/ g dry plant material: PM) and S. eremophila (6.96±0.36, 4.27±0.4 and 20.16±0.74 mg/ g dry PM) as measured by reversed phase HPLC-UV, were significantly increased when 80% methanol was used for the extraction of S. eremophila (15.46±0.69, 17.64±1.05 and 39.05±0.64 mg/ g dry PM), but not for S. santolinifolia (7.44±0.48, 4.2±0.38 and 8.46±047 mg/ g dry PM). We propose that compounds 1-3 are valuable chemical markers for the natural antioxidant capacity of sage extracts.