Chemical profile and seasonal variation of phenolic acid content in bastard balm (Melittis melissophyllum L., Lamiaceae).

Melittis melissophyllum L. is an old medicinal plant. Nowadays it is only used in the folk medicine but formerly it has been applied in the official medicine as a natural product described in French Pharmacopoeia. M. melissophyllum herbs used in our studies were collected from two localities in Poland in May and September. Methanolic plant extracts were purified by means of solid-phase extraction and then analysed by HPLC-DAD for their phenolic acid profile. Eleven compounds were identified in all plant samples and quantitatively analysed as: protocatechuic, chlorogenic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, caffeic, syringic, p-coumaric, ferulic, sinapic, o-coumaric and cinnamic acid. Plant materials contained free and bound phenolic acids. The main compounds were: p-hydroxybenzoic acid (30.21-54.16 mg/100 g dw and 37.04-56.75 mg/100 g dw, free and bound, respectively) and p-coumaric acid (40.48-80.55 mg/100 g dw and 28.09-40.85 mg/100 g dw, free and bound, respectively). The highest amounts of the investigated compounds were found in all samples collected in September, e.g. p-hydroxybenzoic acid (September 51.72-54.16 mg/100 g dw vs. May 30.21-34.07 mg/100 g dw), p-coumaric acid (September 77.14-80.55 mg/100 g dw vs. May 40.48-43.2 5mg/100 g dw). Multivariate statistical and data mining techniques, such as cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA), were used to characterize the sample populations according to the geographical localities, vegetation period and compound form (free or bound). To the best of our knowledge we report for the first time the results of quantitative analysis of M. melissophyllum phenolic acids and seasonal variation of their content. Plant herbs are usually collected at flowering for plant derived medical preparations. Our results show that it is not always the optimal time for the highest contents of active compounds.