Composition of Potentilla speciosa Herb Essential Oil

Abstract

The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the air-dried herb of Potentilla speciosa Willd. was determined to be less than 0.1%. Chemical composition of the oil was determined by GC (FID) and GC/MS techniques. The main components of the oil were the linear aliphatic aldehydes (decanal, undecanal, pentadecanal) and linear aliphatic alcohols (undecanol, hexadecanol). In the terpene fraction, linalool (1.5%), hexahydofarnesylacetone (1.4%), olivetol (1.0%), geranylacetone (0.9%), borneol (0.7%) and alpha-terpineol (0.6%) were also found.

Key Word Index

Potentilla speciosa, Rosaceae, essential oil, composition, decanal, pentadecanal.

Introduction

The investigation of Potentilla speciosa WiIId. (Rosaceae) is a part of our study of endemic, relict and rare species from Serbia and Montenegro. This species is sub-endemic plant of Balkan-peninsula (1,2). It is distributed on limestone at the high mountain region of Montenegro. There is no published data about phytochemical investigation of P. speciosa. The samples of aerial and underground parts of P. speciosa were collected during the flowering stage in the middle of July of 2000, 2001 and 2003. Our research indicated that aerial parts contain around 0.3% of total flavonoids and up to 12.5% of condensed tannins. Underground parts, rhizome and roots, contain up to 13.0% of tannins. Different extracts of P. speciosa herb and rhizome affect to decrease intensity of lipid peroxidation, some of them possess anti-inflammatory and anti-ulcer activity (3,4). Probably, all these activities can be connected widi the content of polyphenol«; constituents of Potentilla species.

It is not well known that the aerial parts oí Potentilla species contain trace amounts of essential oil. This paper deals with analysis of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the air-dried herb off! speciosa.

Experimental

Plant material: The sample of aerial parts of P. speciosa was collected during the flowering stage in the middle of July 2003 at the Sinjajevina Mountain, Montenegro. Appropriate voucher specimen was deposited in the Herbarium (BEOU) of the Institute of Botany, Botanical Garden, University of Belgrade.

Oil isolation and analyses: The air-dried plant material (200 g) was cut and the essential oil was obtained by hydrodistiUation during 3 h using Clevenger-type apparatus. The solution (1%) of the oil in hexane was used for chromatographic analysis.

For GC analysis a Hewlett Packard 5890 II Gas Chromatograph equipped with a 25 m × 0.32 mm HP-5 fused silica capillary column, with a 0.52 µm film thickness and FID was used. The operating conditions were: temperature program 40°-280°C at a rate of 4°C/min, injector temperature 250°C, detector temperature 280°C; carrier gas: H^sub 2^ (1 mL/min).

GC/MS analyses were performed on a Hewlett Packard, model G 1800C GCD Series II (GC-EID), equipped with a 30 m × 0.25 mm, HP-5MS capillary column, with a film thickness 0.25 µm; carrier gas He (1 mL/min) and temperature program 40°-260°C at a rate of 4°C/min, injectortemperature of 250°C, detector temperature of 260°C. Electron impact mass spectra (70 eV) were acquired in m/z range 45-450.

Component identification and quantification: The components of the oil were identified by comparison of their mass spectra to those from Adams (5), Wiley, NIST/NBS libraries. The experimental values for retention indices were determined by die use of calibrated Automated Mass Spectral Deconvolution and Identification System software (AMDIS ver.2.1., DTRA/NIST, 2002). Results obtained were correlated with retention indices with data available in common literature (5) as well as from other sources available on Internet (www. flavornet.org;iowtv.pherobase.com). Forquanti&cation purpose, area percent data obtained by FID were used.

Results and Discussion

The content of die oil in the dry herb of P. speciosa was less than 0.1%. Chemical composition of the oil was determined by GC (FID) and GC/MS analysis. Up to 116 peaks were detected in die chromatogram of the oil and 101 of them were identified, represented about 97% of die oil (Table 1). Only three components were present in the concentration higher than 5% (decanal, pentadecanal, undecanol).

It is interesting that the main components of die oü from die P. speciosa herb, were the linear aliphatic aldehydes (decanal - 15.6%; undecanal - 3.2%; pentadecanal - 11.6%) and linear aliphatic alcohols (undecanol - 5.3%; hexadecanol - 2.8%). The fatty acids were present in the oil, too (dodecanoic acid - 0.2%, tetradecanoic acid - 1.0%, hexadecanoic acid - 0.3%, linoleic acid -0.2%, octadecanoic acid 0.2%, oleic acid -0.1% and ethyl tetradecanoate - 0.3%).

The terpene fraction was not so abundant in die oil. Linalool (1.5%) and hexahydrofarnesylacetone (1.4%) were die major terpenoids in the oil. In addition, olivetol(1.0%),geranyl acetone (0.9%), borneol (0.7%) and Ot-terpyneol (0.6%) were also found in diis fraction.

Acknowledgments