Anthocyanins profiling of Thymus praecox opiz subsp. caucasicus var. caucasicus

• Cyanidin and pelargonidin were quantified first time in flower extract of Anzer tea.
• Cyanidin was found major anthocyanidin in flower extracts of Anzer tea.
• In contrast to cyanidin, pelargonidin disappeared after acidic hydrolysis.
• Stability of cyanidin was determined above 78% during 63 days at −18 °C.
• Cyanidin concentration was diminished because of temperature variation.

Thymus praecox Opiz subsp. caucasicus var. caucasicus (Anzer tea) was studied to determine its anthocyanin content; anthocyanin stability in response to acidic hydrolysis and temperature changes. In this study, anthocyanin profiling of the flowers of T. praecox Opiz subsp. caucasicus var. caucasicus (Anzer tea) were determined for the first time by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV). The effect of acidic hydrolysis on the extracts also was examined. While eleven peaks were observed before hydrolysis, they dropped to three peaks including that of cyanidin post-hydrolysis. Beside, cyanidin and pelargonidin were quantified in plant extracts. Since, the amount of cyanidin was greater than the cyanidin equivalent to the other two peaks (1.9 and 8.9 times) in the hydrolyzed extract, it can be concluded that the plant has mainly cyanidin derivatives such as glycosides. The stability of standard cyanidin in methanol with 1% HCl at −18 °C during a period of 63 days was determined to be above 78%. On the other hand, the concentration of the frozen and thawed standard (10 times) and samples dropped below 74% and 88%, respectively.