Volatiles of the Etlingera elatior (Jack) R. M. Sm. and Zingiber spectabile Griff.: Two Zingiberaceae Cultivated in the Amazon

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Mar/Apr 2005 by Zoghbi, Maria das G B, Andrade, Eloisa H A

Abstract

The volatiles of Etlingera elatior and Zingiber spectabile (Zingiberaceae), cultivated in the state of Pará were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The major components identified in the oils of inflorescence and inflorescence axis of E. elatior were dodecanol (42.5%, 34.6%), dodecanal (14.5%, 21.5%) and α-pinene (22.2%, 6.3%), respectively. The inflorescence oil of Z. spectabilis was rich in β-phellandrene (45.3%), α-pinene (13.4%) and β-pinene (11.0%).

Key Word Index

Etlingera elatior, Zingiber spectabile, Zingiberaceae, dodecanol, dodecanal, β-phellandrene, α-pinene, β-pinene, essential oil composition.

Plant Name

Etlingeraelatior(Jack) R. M. Sm. [syn.Achasmayunnanense T. L. Wu et S. J. Chen, Alpinia elatior Jack, A. speciosa (Blume) D. Dietr., Elettaria speciosa Blume, Etlingera yunnanensis (T. L. Wu et S. J. Chen) R. M. Sm., Nicolaia elatior (Jack) Horan., N. speciosa (Blume) Horan., Phaeomeria speciosa (Blume) Koord.]; common names: bastão-do-imperador, flor-da-redenção, gengibre-tocha. Zingiber spectabile Griff., Zingiberaceae (common name: xampu).

Source

The samples of E. elatior and Z. spectabile were collected in the city of Castanhal, state of Pará, Brasil, March 2002. Both species were identified by specialists of the Herbarium of Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi where specimens have been deposited.

Plant Part

The samples (inflorescence and inflorescence axis) of E. elatior and Z. spectabile, were separated, reduced to small pieces and dried in an air-conditioned room for seven days. After this time the small pieces were ground and hydrodistilled for 3 h, using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The oils obtained were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and immediately analyzed. The total oil yields were expressed as mL/100g of the dried material. The sample of inflorescence axis of Z. spectabilis did not furnish an essential oil.

Previous Work

Volatiles of the flowers of E. elatior and from leaves, stems, and rhizomes of Z. spectabilis have been previously analyzed (1-4).

Present Work

GC: Analysis of volatile components were performed on an HP 5890-11 instrument, using a fused silica capillary column coated with CP-SiI-SCB (25 m x 0.25 mm, 0.25 μm film thickness). Hydrogen was used as the carrier gas, adjusted to a linear velocity of 32 cm/s (measured at measured at 100°C); split flow was adjusted to give a 20:1 ratio, and septum sweep was a constant 10 mL/min. Splitless injection of 1 μL, of a 2:1000 hexane solution; injector and detector temperature was 250°C; oven temperature program was 60°-240°C at 3°C/min. The GC was equipped with FID and connected with an electronic integrator HP 3396 Series II. The percentage composition of the oil samples were computed from the GC peak areas without using corrections for response factors.

GC/MS: Analysis was performed on a Finnigan Mat INCOS XL GC/MS system, equipped with a DB-5MS (30 m x 0.25 mm, 0.25μm film thickness) fused silica capillary column; the carrier gas was helium. Injection and oven-programming temperature were the same as above. EIMS: electron energy, 70 eV; ion source temperature and connection parts: 180°C. Individual components were identified by comparison of both mass spectrum and their GC retention data with those of authentic compounds previously analyzed and stored in the data system, and by comparison of mass spectra with those in the data system libraries and cited in the literature (5). Components, retention indices, yield oils and percentages are listed in Table I.

Results and Discussion

The volatiles of the inflorescences of E. elatior and Z. spectabile differed considerably. The samples of E. elatior were found to be rich in alcohols and aldehydes, with apredominance of dodecanol (inflorescence: 42.5%, inflorescence axis: 34.6%) and dodecanal (inflorescence: 14.5%, inflorescence axis: 21.5%) followed by tetradecanol (inflorescence: 4.2%, inflorescence axis: 3.2%). In the monoterpene group, α-pinene (inflorescence: 22.2%, inflorescence axis: 6.3%) were the major component of the flower oil of E. elatior. Dodecanol, dodecanaland α-pinene, were also the major components previously identified in the young flower oil, and in the SDE-extract of the inflorescences of E. elatior (1,2).

The oil of the inflorescence of Z. spectabilis was rich in β-phellandrene (45.3%), α-pinene (13.4%) and β-pinene (11.0%). The inflorescence oil of Z. spectabile was qualitative similar to the leaf and stem oils of Z. spectabile from Tahiti, but the percentages were quite different: α-pinene and β-pinene were the major components of the leaf and stem oils with a predominance of the latter; β-phellandrene was identified in mixture with (Z)-β-ocimene, 1,8-cineole and limonene (3). According our results, it is possible that the β-phellandrene was the major component in the samples from Tahiti.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Conselho National de Ciência e Tecnologia for financial support.

References

1. K.C. Wong, Y.F. Yap, L.K. Ham, The Essential Oil of Young Flower Shoots of Phaeomeria spedosa Koord. J. Essent. Oil Res., 5, 135-138 (1993).