Composition of the essential oil of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl. from Iran

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Mar/Apr 2003 by Feizbaksh, Alireza, Tehrani, Mohammad Saber, Rustaiyan, Abdolhossein, Masoudi, Shiva

Abstract

The constituents of the oil obtained by hydrodistillation of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl. grown in Iran was analyzed using GC (retention indices) and GC/MS. Fifty-five compounds were observed, of which 44 could be identified. The major components found in the oil were x-pinene (20.1%), P-pinene (12.1%) and spathulenol (7.2%).

Key Word Index

Stachys lavandulifolia, Lamiaceae, essential oil composition, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene.

Plant Name

Stachys lacandulifolia Vahl. Fam. Lamiaceae (1).

Source

Aerial parts of S. lavandulifolia were collected from province Tehran, Abali, Iran. A voucher specimen was deposited in the Herbarium of the Department of Botany, Shaheed Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Plant Part

The air-dried aerial parts of the plant were subjected to hydrodistillation for 3 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus to give an oil in 1.5% yield.

Previous Work

The oil of S. lava ndulifolia from Turkey was previously studied (2). The oil consisted of 20.2% monoterpene hydrocarbons, 39.9% oxygenated monoterpenes and 14.9% sesquiterpenes. The major components were P-caryophyllene (11.3%), 1,8-cineole (8.7%), terpinen-4-ol (4.4%), a cadinene (3.6%) and methyl eugenol (3.6%). For comparison purposes, we decided to examine the oil of the plant grown wild in Iran.

Present Work

The oil was analyzed by GC/MS using a Hewlett-Packard 5973 mass selective connected with an HP 6890 gas chromatograph. The separation was achieved by capillary column, HP-5MS (5% phenyl methyl siloxane) (30 m x 0.25 min, film thickness 0.25 (mu)m).

The column temperature was kept at 60 deg C for 20 min and programmed to 220 deg C at a rate of 5 deg C/min, and kept constant at 220 deg C for 20 min. The flow rate of helium as carrier gas was 1 mL/min. MS was taken at 70 eV.

The identification of the constituents was made by comparing their mass spectra and retention indices with those given in the literature and with those of authentic samples (3).

The identified constituents are listed in Table I. Fortyfour components representing 89.6% of the oil, which was particularly rich in monoterpenes (51.8%) and sesquiterpenes (37.2%), were identified. Among the monoterpene fractions, oxygenated compounds were present only in small percentages (4.2%) as compared with the hydrocarbons (47.6%). cc-Pinene (20.1%), beta-pinene (12.1%), spathulenol (7.2%) and germacrene D (5.3%) were found to he the major constituents.

While the major part of the oil consisted of components that had already been described in Turkish S. lavandulifolia, the high P-caryophyllene and 1,8-cineole levels are notew,orthy. With these results, the high variation in the composition of volatiles caused by various chemoo types of S. lavandulifolia was confirmed.

Previous investigations of the oils of the Stachys genus showed varying compositions (4-6). It is of interest to note that the dominant compound in the oil of S. aegyptiaca was alphapinene (54.5%) (7).

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to V. Mozaffarian for helpful assistance in collecting plant naterial and for botanical identification.

References

1. K.H. Rechinger, Stachys, in: Flora iranica, Labiatae, No. 150 Edits.: K.H. Rechinger and LC. Hedge, P. Akademische Druck and Verlagsanstatt, Graz, Austria (1987).

2. E. Sezik and A. Basaran, Phytochemical Investigation on the Plants Used As Folk Medicine and Herbal Tea in Turkey; Essential Oil of Stachys lavandulifolia Vahl. Var. lavandulifolia. J. Fac. Pharm. Istanbul, 21, 98 (1985).

3. R.P. Adams, Identification of Essential Oil Components by Gas Chromotography/Mass Spectroscopy. Allured Publ. Corp., Carol Stream, IL, USA (1995).

4. M.E. Duru, A. Cakir, M. Harmandar, S. Izumi and T. Hirata, The volatile constituents of Stachys athorecalyx C. Koch. from Turkey. Flav. Fragr. J., 14,12-14 (1999).

5. A. Cakir, M.E. Duru, M. Harmandar, S. Izumi and T. Hirata, The volatile constituents of Stachys recta L. and Stachys balansae L. from Turkey. Flav. Fragr. J., 12, 215-218 (1997).

6 J.P. Mariotti, J. Costa, A. Bianchini, A.F. Bernardini and J. Casanova, Composition and variability of the essential oil of Stachys glutinosa L. from Corsica (France). Flav. Fragr. J., 12, 205-209 (1997).

7. A.F. Halim, M.M. Mashaly, A.M. Zaghloul, H. Abd-EI-Fattah and H.L. De Pooter, Chemical Constituents ofthe Essential Oils ofOriganum syriacum and Stachys aegyptiaca. Int. J. Pharmacog., 29, 183-187 (1991).

Alireza Feizbaksh, Mohammad Saber Tehrani and Abdolhossein Rustaiyan* Department of Chemistry, Science dr Research Campus, IA University, PO Box 14515-775, Teharan, Iran

Shiva Masoudi

Department of Chemistry, Science & Research Campus, IA University, PO Box 14515-775, Tehram, Iran

*Address for correspondence

Received: September 2000

Revised: January 2001

Accepted: February 2001