Essential oil composition of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. fruits from pharmacies in different countries

Variations in the essential oil composition of Foeniculum vulgare Mill. commercial fruits obtained from retail pharmacies in Estonia, Norway, Austria and Moldova and from a spice shop in Turkey were determined using capillary GC techniques. The essential oil content of all the samples was 5-51 mL?kg(-1) and between 22 and 51 mL?kg(-1) in fennel fruits bought from pharmacies. A total of 34 compounds were identified. The major component was trans-anethole (34.8-82.0%); the other principal compounds in oils were fenchone (1.6-22.8%), estragole (2.4-17.0%), limonene (0.8-16.5%), and cis-anethole (0.1-8.6%). The yield of essential oil (5.0?mL?kg(-1)) and content of trans-anethole was very low (34.8%) in the Turkish spice sample. Maximum yield of essential oil was found in fennel from Norway and Austria (50.7 and 50.5?mL?kg(-1), respectively); these samples were rich in fenchone (21.2% and 22.8%), but contained less trans-anethole (64.6-63.7) than samples from Estonia and Moldova (82.0% and 80.9%). The typical samples of sweet fennel (bought from Estonia and Moldova) and bitter fennel (from Norway and Austria) were found to conform completely or partially to EP standards, although fennel type was always not marked on the packages.     

Composition of the essential oil of Salvia officinalis L. from various European countries

Variations in the essential oil composition of Salvia officinalis L. growing in Estonia and in other European countries were determined. The oils were obtained in yields of 2.2-24.8 mL kg(-1). In three samples, the content of essential oil did not conform to the EP standard (10 mL kg(-1)). Variations in the essential oil composition of sage were studied using capillary gas chromatographic methods. A total of 40 components were identified. The principal components in the sage oils were 1,8-cineole, camphor, alpha-thujone, beta-thujone, borneol, and viridiflorol. The chemotypes of sage were not determined in investigated samples. The concentration of the main compounds in the drugs cultivated in Estonia varied in about the same range as the concentrations of these compounds in the oils of drugs obtained from other countries. The comparatively high concentration of toxic thujones seem to be characteristic to sage leaves cultivated in Estonia.     

Extraction of essential oil from Pimpinella anisum using supercritical carbon dioxide and comparison with hydrodistillation

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of essential oil from Pimpinella anisum, using carbon dioxide as a solvent is presented in this work. An orthogonal array design OA9 (3(4)) was applied to select the optimum extraction condition. The effects of pressure, temperature, dynamic extraction time and methanol volume on the extraction efficiency were investigated by the three-level orthogonal array design. Results show that pressure has a significant effect on the extraction efficiency. The extract obtained from P. anisum by using supercritical fluid extraction was compared with the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation, considering both quantity and quality of the product. SFE products were found to be of markedly different composition, compared with the corresponding hydrodistilated oil. The total amount of extractable substances obtained in SFE (7.5%) is higher than that obtained by hydrodistillation (3.1%) and SFE is faster than hydrodistillation method.     

Isolation of terpenoids from Pimpinella anisum essential oil by high‐performance counter‐current chromatography

High‐performance counter‐current chromatography was successfully used for the isolation and purification of terpenoid compounds from the essential oil of Pimpinella anisum L. A two‐phase solvent system composed of n‐heptane/methanol/ethyl acetate/water (5:2:5:2, v/v/v/v) was suitable for the purification of linalool, terpinen‐4‐ol, α‐terpineol, p‐anisaldehyde, while n‐heptane/methanol (1:1, v/v) was used for the isolation of anethole and foeniculin. A scale‐up process from analytical to preparative was developed. Additionally, a stepwise gradient elution was applied and instead of two different runs, 40 min each, one 80 min separation was performed; although the time of separation remains the same, it was possible to repeat the efficiency even if the water‐containing mobile phase was changed to a nonaqueous system. The obtained essential oil, as well as purified compounds, was analyzed by GC. A total of 0.64 mg of linalool, 0.52 mg of terpinen‐4‐ol, 0.10 mg of α‐terpineol, 0.62 mg of p‐anisaldehyde, 15 mg of anethole, and 2.12 mg of foeniculin were obtained from 210 mg of the essential oil of P. anisum L. in a short time with purities of 99, 98, 94, 93.54, 93, and 93.6%, respectively.     

Phytochemical analysis of the essential oil of Achillea millefolium L. from various European Countries

Variations in the essential oil composition of Achillea millefolium L. growing in Estonia and in other European countries, were determined. The oils were obtained in yields of 0.9-9.5 mL kg-1. A total of 102 components were identified. The quantitatively most important components of yarrow were sabinene, beta-pinene, 1,8-cineole, artemisia ketone, linalool, alpha-thujone, beta-thujone, camphor, borneol, fenchyl acetate, bornyl acetate, (E)-beta-caryophyllene, germacrene D, caryophyllene oxide, beta-bisabolol, delta-cadinol, chamazulene etc. Samples from Estonia contained high amounts of monoterpenes and chamazulene. High amounts of monoterpenes and chamazulene were also found in samples from Hungary, Greek, Moldavia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany. The oils from France, Belgium, Russia, Armenia, Spain and Italy were rich in oxygenated monoterpenes and contained a little amount of chamazulene. The drugs from Greece, Estonia, Moldavia and Scotland were rich in sesquiterpenes. The Millefolii herba grown in Estonia conforms to the European Pharmacopoeia (EP) standards in the aspect of the essential oil contents.     

Resolution and quantification of isomeric fatty acids by silver ion HPLC: fatty acid composition of aniseed oil (Pimpinella anisum, Apiaceae)

A silver ion HPLC procedure is described that is suitable to determine the fatty acid composition of plant seed oils. After conversion of fatty acids to p-methoxyphenacyl derivatives, it was possible to achieve baseline resolution of all fatty acid components with 0 to 3 double bonds, including the positionally isomeric 18:1 fatty acids oleic acid (cis 9-18:1), petroselinic acid (cis 6-18:1), and cis-vaccenic acid (cis 11-18:1), in aniseed oil (Pimpinella anisum, Apiaceae) by a single gradient run on a single cation exchange column laboratory converted to the silver ion form. The UV detector response (280 nm) was linearly related to the fatty acid concentration in the range 0.01 to 3.5 mg/mL.     

Chemical composition of essential oil and headspace-solid microextracts from fruits of Myrica gale L. and antifungal activity

The essential oil and the volatile compounds of Myrica gale fruits were analysed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The volatile compounds were detected using two different fibres for headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME), Carboxen/PDMS and PDMS. Sixty two compounds were identified, which represented more than 90% of the total extracts. Major components of fruit essential oil are alpha-pinene (22.6%), 1,8-cineole (18.9%) and germacrone (14.2%), whereas they are germacrone (25.1%), alpha-pinene (12.2%), limonene (8.1%) and alpha-phellandrene (8.0%) for the leaf essential oil. Major volatile fruit compounds detected in HS-SPME were alpha-pinene, 1,8-cineole, p-cymene and eth-cadinene. As M. gale fruits are traditionally used in brewery for flavouring beer or as a spice in soups or stews, the antifungal properties of these essential oils were investigated on a panel of foodborne fungi, namely Aspergillus flavus, Cladosporium cladosporioides and Penicillium expansum. A complete antifungal activity was observed at 1000 ppm against C. cladosporioides. Both essential oil and entire fruits could thus be used as an additive in food or cosmetic preparations for their flavour, odour and their conservative properties.     

Essential oil composition of Nepeta satureioides from Iran

The essential oil of Nepeta satureioides Boiss. from Iran was isolated by hydrodistillation in yield of 0.06% (w/w). The chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Forty-five compounds accounting for 97.4% of the total oil were identified. The major components were linalool (23.8%), (Z,E)-farnesol (14.7%), linalyl acetate (11.1%), β-caryophyllene (6.6%), lavandulol acetate (6.6%), caryophyllene oxide (6.4%), and (Z)-β-farnesene (3.4%). Oxygenated terpenoids were the main group of compounds. Published in Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 2, pp. 144–145, March–April, 2006.     

Essential oil composition of Prasium majus from Croatia

The essential oils from the aerial parts of Prasium majus L., collected during two years in Croatia, were analysed by GC and GC/MS. Fifty-two compounds were identified, representing 90.3-91.8% of the total oils. The major constituents in both samples were fatty acids (particularly hexadecanoic acid and (Z)-octadec-9-enoic acid), lower aliphatic alcohols, aldehydes and acids (major ones oct-1-en-3-ol and (E,E)-hepta-2,4-dienal) and phenylpropane derivatives (e.g. eugenol). Beta-Caryophyllene was the most abundant terpene and (E)-beta-ionone was the major norisoprenoid.     

Essential oils of Pimpinella aromatica

V. L. Komarov Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaidzhan SSR, Baku. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 2, pp. 288–291, March–April, 1991.     

Essential oil composition of Eucalyptus procera Dehnh. leaves from central Iran

The chemical composition of the essential oil of leaves of Eucalyptus procera Dehnh., cultivated in central Iran, was obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC-MS. Forty-five constituents representing 99.6% of the total oil were identified. The main constituents of the oil were found to be 1,8-cineole (35.9%), α-pinene (25.6%) and viridiflorol (7.7%). Other representative compounds were identified as α-terpineol (3.6%), aromadendrene (3.5%) and trans-pinocarveol (3.0%).     

Essential oil composition and antioxidant activities of the various extracts of Tanacetum sonbolii Mozaff. (Asteraceae) from Iran

This study is designed to examine the chemical composition of the essential oil and antioxidant activities of the different extracts of Tanacetum sonbolii Mozaff. from Iran for the first time. The essential oil was isolated by hydrodistillation and its gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses resulted in the identification of 26 components, representing 96.5% of the oil. The major components were characterised to be α-cadinol (35.3%), globulol (20.1%) and 1,8-cineole (8.6%). Antioxidant activities of the various extracts of the plant were determined by two different test systems; 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene-linoleic acid. Also, their total phenolic and flavonoid contents were determined. DPPH radical-scavenging activities of test samples followed the order water?>?chloroform?>?ethyl acetate?>?butanol?>?BHT?>?methanol. Moreover, the ethyl acetate extract showed better β-carotene bleaching capacity than the other extracts and the amount of total phenolics was very high in ethyl acetate extract.     

Essential oil ofPeucedanum oreoselinum fruits collected near Vilnius

Fruits ofPeucedanum oreoselinum (L.) Moench, were collected at three sites in 1995–1998 and contained 1.5–5.0% essential oil. Analyses were performed using GLC and GC-MS. The main component of the essential oil is limonene (44.1–82.4%). The majority of examined samples contained more limonene than has been reported in the literature. Only in sunny locations do plants synthesize significant quantities of γ-terpinene (12.2–17.5%) and β-pinene (8.5–14.5%). Small quantities of α-pinene are present in all studied samples of essential oil (4.0–8.3%). Monoterpenes comprise 97.1–98.6% of the essential oil. The remainder consists of sesquiterpenes. Institute of Chemistry, ul. Goshtauto, 9, Vilnius, Lithuania. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 743–745, November–December, 1999.