Sandra Gouveia, Paula C. Castilho,
Artemisia argentea, known as losna or Madeira wormwood is used as aperitif drink with tonic effects. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method (RP-HPLC) coupled with diode-array detection (DAD) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) was used for the separation/characterization of phenolic compounds in A. argentea. A wide variety of components was found, mainly flavonoids (O- and C-glycosylated) and hydroxycinnamic acids derivatives. Five saponins, an uncommon type of compound in Artemisia species, were reported. Quantification of caffeoylquinic acids (CQA) was performed and 5-O-CQA and 3,5-O-diCQA were the major compounds (ca. 300 mg/100 g dried plant). Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were established and four assays were used to measure the antioxidant capacity of the plant, revealing a high radical scavenging capacity and a weak reducing potential. Unlike other Artemisia subspecies, A. argentea is totally free of harmful components such as thujene, thujone or artemisia ketone.
3,4-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid and 4,5-O- dicaffeoylquinic acid were obtained from Chengdo Biopurify Phytochemicals, Ltd China (Sichuan, China).
