A Review of the Chemical Composition of Essential Oils of Thymus Species in Iran

The genus Thymus from the Lamiaceae family has more than 300 species distributed worldwide, including in Europe and Asia. 18 Thymus species have been identified in Iran's flora, of which 4 are endemic to Iran. Thymus species are known as medicinal plants due to their biological and medicinal properties. Thyme has many biological activities, including antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, Thymus species interest many pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. Throughout the evolution of plants, essential oils have played a crucial part in the direct and indirect defenses of plants against possible predators and pathogens, as well as in the processes of plant reproduction by attracting pollinators and disseminators to the seeds The present study was conducted to investigate the chemical composition of essential oils of Thymus species in Iran. The information and findings in this review were obtained from scientific databases and search engines, including Web of Knowledge, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Medline, Reaxys and Google Scholar. In this research, we investigated different species of Thymus collected wild and cultivated in different parts of Iran. The results showed that the main composition of thyme included thymol, carvacrol, geraniol, γ-terpinene and linalool. The conclusion of this review shows that plant compounds are a promising source of bioactive compounds that can be explored for development against diseases and complications associated with its chemical drugs.