Composition of the Essential Oils of Tanacetum vulgare L. Growing Wild in Vilnius District (Lithuania)

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Nov/Dec 2004 by Mockute, Danute, Judzentiene, Asta

Abstract

The essential oils of the inflorescences and leaves of Tanacetum vulgare L. var vulgare collected at full flowering in 10 habitats in Vilnius district were investigated. Forty-one constituents were identified. The oils were distributed among four chemotypes. The major constituents of the camphor chemotype (10 samples) were camphor (22.3-41.4%) and 1,8-cineole (10.6-26.4%); the α-thujone chemotype (six samples) was found to be dominated by α-thujone (25.7-71.5%) and 1,8-cineole (11.3-22.3%); the major constituents of the 1,8-cineole-chemotype (three samples) was dominated by 1,8-cineole (24.5-32.7%) and camphor (8.3-23.8%); the artemisia ketone chemotype (one sample of inflorescences) predominantly featured artemisia ketone (30.5%) and camphor (23.0%). The oil from inflorescences of the above chemotypes contained higher amounts of the first major component and oxygenated monoterpenes (mean 83.6%) than the leaf oils (mean 73.7%). An opposite correlation was noticed for mono- and sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes. The oils of the inflorescences and leaves were of the same chemotype in eight habitats, but they contained different amounts of the main components.

Key Word Index

Tanacetum vulgare, Compositae, tansy, essential oil composition, chemotypes, camphor, 1,8-cineole, α-thujone, β-thujone, artemisia ketone, isoborneol.

Plant Name

Tanacetum vulgare L.

Introduction

Only one species of Tanacetum genus Tanacetum vulgäre L. (syn. Chrysanthenumvulgarelj.)isgrowingwildinLithuania (1). The plant is widespread over all the country. Two varieties of the plant - var. vulgare and var. crispum - were found.

A review of the oils of T. vulgare by Lawrence included the papers from 1961 to 1996 (2). The oils were investigated in 16 countries. Twenty-three chemotypes were found with different first major constituents. The number of chemotypes increased due to the second major constituent. Some investigators determined a chemotype regarding to the third major constituent as an important one. The β (trans)-thujone-chemotype of T. vulgare oil was found in nine countries (Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Finland, India and Poland) and α (m)-thujone-chemotype in three countries (France, Germany and Italy). The form of thujone was not determined for some oils investigated in some countries (Brazil, Finland, India and the United Kingdom).

The plants producing an oil of the camphor-chemotype were collected in seven countries (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Kazakhstan and the United States), and the trans-chrysanthenyl acetate-chemotype in five countries (Belgium, Finland, Holland, Hungary and Italy). The 1,8-cineoIe and artemisia ketone-chemotypes were found in the same three countries ( Finland, Holland and Hungary). The bornyl acetatechemotype was determined also in three countries ( Finland, Hungary and the United States). The other 16 chemotypes were differentiated according to the first major component such as sabinene, thujyl alcohol, umbellulone, thujyl acetate, apinene, chrysanthenone, chrysanthenone oxide, isopinocampone, borneol, γ-terpinene, piperitone, transdihydrocarvone, lyratol, lyratyl acetate, davanone and germacrene D. These were found only in one or two countries. Further investigations on tansy oil have been reported after 1996 (3-6).

The plants of T. vulgare which were most carefully analyzed were in Finland (17 chemotypes), Hungary (14 chemotypes) and Holland (10 chemotypes ).

There are no data on composition of the oil of tansy growing wild in Lithuania. In this paper, we have described the four chemotypes of the oils of T. vulgare growing in Vilnius district (Lithuania).

Experimental

The aerial parts (up to ~50 cm) of plants (0.1-0.5 kg) growing wild were collected in August 2000, except sample K, which was collected in 1999. The plants were gathered in Vilnius district or around Vilnius city in 10 localities (indicated here by alphabetic symbols, A-M)

Voucher specimens were deposited in the Herbarium of the Institute of Botany (BILAS), Vilnius, Lithuania (numbers: A-59519, B-59530, C-59528, D-59533, E-59526, G-59531, H-59522, J-59534, K-59535, M-59524).

All samples were collected at full flowering stage (an inflorescence was indicated by a letter F, a leaf by the letter L). The plants were dried at room temperature (20°0 -25°C) and the flowers were separated from the stems and leaves before drying. The oils (0.4-1.1%) were prepared by hydrodistillation of 15-25 g of air-dried plants for 2.5 h. Analyses by GC/MS were performed using a Chromatograph HP 5890 interfaced to an HP 5971 mass spectrometer (ionization voltage 70 eV) and equipped with capillary column CP-SiI 8 CB (50 m × 0.32 mm, film thickness 0.25 µm). The oven temperature was held at 70°C for 5 min, then programmed from 70°0 -100°C at a rate of 3°C/min, held for l min, then programmed from 100°-250°C at a rate of 25°C/min and finally isothermal at 250°C for 10 min, using He as the carrier gas (2.0 mL/min). Injector and detector temperatures were 250°C and 280°C, respectively. GC analyses were performed using an HP 5890 gas chromatograph equipped with FID. The column and analyses conditions were the same as in GC/MS.