Essential Oils from Bolivia. IV. Compositae: Tagetes aff. maxima Kuntze and Tagetes multiflora H.B.K.

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Jan/Feb 2005 by Pichette, A, Garneau, F-X, Collin, G, Jean, F-I, Et al

Abstract

The chemical composition of the essential oils of two species of Tagetes growing wild in Bolivia was investigated. We found in the oil of T. aff. maxima (Z)-tagetone (31%), dihydrotagetone (27%) and (E)-ocimenone (22%). The oil of T. multiflora contained as major components (Z)-tagetone (47%), (E)-ocimenone (17%) and (Z)-β-ocimene (13%).

Key Word Index

Tagetes aff. maxima, Tagetes multiflora, Compositae, essential oil composition, (Z)-dihydrotagetone, (E)-tagetenone, (Z)-β-ocimene, tagetone.

Introduction

Plants of the genus Tagetes, family Compositae, originate from South America, but today these plants are growing wild or are cultivated all around the world. The composition of the essential oils of many species of Tagetes has already been reported (1-3). Tagetes minuta is the most studied species, its oil contains (Z)-tagetone, (Z)-β-ocimene, dihydrotagetone, (Z)- and (E)-ocimenone as major products (4,5). Tagetes oil (especially from T. minuta] is used as a fragrance compound in perfumes and as a flavor component in many food products. The oil seems to have some medicinal properties such as anti-innaminatory and hypotensive effects (6). To our knowledge, it is the first time the chemical composition of the oils of T. aff. maxima and T. mutiflora are reported.

Experimental

T. aff. maxima (suico, alkosuico) was collected at Corani Pampa (altitude of 2,584 m) in Chapare, a province of Bolivia. Tagetes multiflora (suico enano) was collected at Icaya and Kami (altitude of 3,500 m) in Ayopaya, a province of Bolivia. Tagetes is a shrub 1.3 m tall, erect with steins, opposite bicompound leaves, deeply pinnatisect, eliptical-lanceolate leaves, serrate margins, with oleose glanduls.

The aerial parts of the plants (about 1100-1300 g) were hydrodistilled for 1.5 h. oil samples were analyzed by GC on a HewlettPackard 5890 equipped with a polar Supelcowax 10 column and an apolar DB-5 column (30 m x 0.25 mm, film thickness 0.25 µm). Analysis by GC/MS were performed on a Hewlett-Packard mass spectrometer 5972 at 70 eV coupled to an HP 5890 equipped with a DB-5 column (same as above). Temperature program was 40°C for 2 min, then 2°C/min to 210°C and held constant for 33 min. The identification of the components was done by comparison of their retention indices with standards, and by comparison of their mass spectra with literature (7).

Results and Discussion

Essential oil of T. aff. maxima was obtained with a better yield (0.38%) than the oil of T. multiflora (0.22%). Both oils were orange in color and had pleasant floral odors.

The chemical composition of these two oils is shown in Table I. We can notice that, in both cases, the major component was (Z)-tagetone. (E)-ocimenone[or(E)-tagetenone]was also important in both oils. The principal differences between the two species were the larger amount of dihydrotagetone in T. aff. maxima (27%), compared to 8% in T. multiflora, and the larger quantity of (Z)-β-ocimene in T. multiflora (13%), compared to 1% in T. aff. maxima. Qualitatively, the chemical composition of the oils of these two species of Tagetes is similar to the oil of T. minuta.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.

References

1. B.M. Lawrence, Progress in Essential oils, Tagetes oils. Perfum. Flavor., 25(6), 38-42 (2000) and references cited therein.

2. M.I.L. Machado, M.G.V. Silva, F.J.A. Matos, A.A. Craveiroand J.W. Alencar, The presence of Indole as a Minor Constituent of Tagetes erecta Leaf Oil. J. Essent. Oil Res., 6, 203-205 (1994).

3. A. Stojanova, T. Primova and C. Anastassov, Effect of Mineral Fertilization on the Essential oil Composition of Tagetes patula L. from Bulgaria. J. Essent. oil Res., 12, 609-612 (2000).

4. J-C. Chalchat, R-P. Garry and A. Muhayimana, Essential Oil of Tagetes minuta from Rwanda and France: Chemical Composition According to Harvesting Location, Growth Stage and Part of Plant Extracted. J. Essent. Oil Res., 7, 375-386 (1995).

5. R.P. Bansal, J.R. Bahl, S.N. Garg, A.A. Naqvi, S. Sharma, M. Ram and S. Kumar, Variation in Quality of Essential oil Distilled from Vegetative and Reproductive Stages of Tagetes minuta Crop Grown in North Indian Plains. J. Essent. oil Res., 11, 747-752 (1999).

6. A.Y. Leung and S. Foster, Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients used in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics. John Wiley & Sons (1996).

7. R.P. Adams, Identification of Essential oil Components by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry. Allured Publishing Corp., Carol Stream, IL (1995).

A. Pichette, R-X. Garneau, G. Collin,* F.-I. Jean and H. Gagnon

LASEVE, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada G7H 2B1

Javier Bernardo Lopez Arze

Centra De Tecnología Agroindustrial, Universidad Mayor de San Simón, Cochahamba, Bolivia

* Address for correspondence

Received: January 2002

Revised: February 2002

Accepted: March 2002