Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Angelica archangelica L. Roots Growing Wild in Lithuania, The

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Jul/Aug 2005 by Nivinskiene, Ona, Butkiene, Rita, Mockute, Danute

Abstract

The roots of Angelica archangelica L. were collected in three habitats (12 samples) in 1995-2002. The oils were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The dominant component was α-pinene (15.7-20.8%) for two localities. Other three main constituents were δ-3-carene (15.4-16.9%), limonene (8.0-9.2%), sabinene (5.0-7.5%) for the first locality, and β-phellandrene (13.5-15.4%), δ-3-carene (13.2-14.2%) and α-phellandrene (8.0-9.1%) for the second locality. The dominant oil components in the thirdlocality were β-phellandrene (13.8-18.5%) together with α-pinene(11.4-15.0%), δ-3-carene (10.8-11.9%), p-cymene (6.8-10.6%) and α-phellandrene (5.9-8.6%). The oils contained 67.3-79.9% monoterpenoids (monoterpene hydrocarbons made up 60.2-72.6%), 9.6-19.4% sesquiterpenoids, 3.9-6.3% macrocyclic lactones and 1.2-5.3% coumarin osthol. Identified compounds (81 from 96) made up 91.4-99.2% of the oils.

Key Word Index

Angelica archangelica, Apiaceae, angelica root, essential oil composition, α-pinene, δ-3-carene, β-phellandrene, p-cymene.

Introduction

The essential oils of Angelica archangelica L. roots are used for healing in lots of countries around the world (1-4) due to its antispasmodic, carminative, depurative, diaphoretic, digestive, diuretic, expectorant, febrifuge, nervine, stimulant, stomachic and tonic actions. In traditional Lithuanian medicine decoctions or the extracts of roots of A. archangelica are used for healing various diseases such as bronchitis, laryngitis, gastritis, nervous exhaustion, as well as remedies in conditions of the locomotor systems (5-7). The preparations could be used both for external and internal treatments. According to the European Pharmacopoeia 2002, the main healing power of the A.archangelica depends on the amount of couinarins.

The root oils are also used in aromatherapy (2,3). The odor of the oil is aromatic with a green-spicy top-note and a pleasant musky dry-out. The root oils are also used in confections, drinks, cosmetics, soaps and perfumes, in addition to pharmaceutical uses (2).

The largest part (> 60%) of the oil of A. archangelica L. roots is made up of monoterpene hydrocarbons (8-19). α-Pinene was the dominant constituent in more than half of the investigated oils of plants from Finland (8,16), Norway (10), France (12,14), Brazil (19) and commercial (12). Other dominant components were β-phellandrene (10), δ-3-carene (15) and β-pinene (10). Limonene, p-cymene and α-phellandrene were also found between five major constituents of the oils. The same monoteqjene hydrocarbons were identified in pentane/ether and liquid CO2 extracts in lower quantities, depending on extraction conditions (19-21).

The oils (8-14,22) and extracts (19-21) also contained the macrolide fraction (causing the musk odor of A. archangelica) consisting of different amounts of 13-tridecanolide, 12-methyl13-tridecanolide, 15-pentadecanolide, 16-hexadecanolide and 17-heptadecanolide.

The extracts and the oils of plants contained various coumarins, such as osthol, psoralen, bergapten, angelicin and imperatorin (2,19,20).

Constituents of the essential oil have exhibited bioactivity in different investigations. a-Pinene, β-pinene, sabinene, limonene, β-caryophyllene and other terpenoids have been found to possess antioxidative properties (23). α-Pinene has been found to affect 25 different bacteria (24), while Iimonene has been found to inhibit acetylcholinesterase activity (25). Besides, it is an affective anticarcinogen when tested with chemical carcinogens (26) and is usable in cancer therapy (27). Menthol, a- and γ-terpinenes and terpinen-4-ol have also been reported to inhibit acetylcholinesterase activity (25), with α-terpinene being the strongest inhibitor from the above compounds, δ-Cadinene and β-caryophyllene have been shown to exhibit in vitro cytotoxicity against tumor cells and enhance the citotoxic activity of indole and indole-3-carbinol (28).

The present report deals with the composition of the root oils of A. archangelica from three different localities of Lithuania.

Materials and Methods

The roots of A. archangelica were collected in September from four habitats: Svencionys district (sample A, 1997-2000), Prienai district (sample B, 1999-2002), Vilnius district (sample C, 1995,2000-2002) andin garden of Botanical Institute (D). All habitats were on riverside. Voucher specimens were deposited in the Herbarium of the Institute of Botany (BILAS), Vilnius, Lithuania (numbers: A-65213;B-65212;C-65214). The oils (0.20.5%) were prepared by hydrodistillation for 2 h in apparatus in accordance with European Pharmacopoeia [4] of 100 g of air-dried uncut roots with a plant: water ratio of 1:4.

Gas chromatography (GC) analyses were carried out on a HP 5890 (Hewlett Packard) gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector. The separation was performed on a silica capillary column, CP-Sil 8CB (50 m x 0.32 mm, film thickness 0.25 µm). The GC oven temperature was programmed as follows: from 60°C (isothermal for 1 min) to 160°C at a rate of 5°C/min and to 250°C at a rate of 10°C/min and the final temperature was kept for 3 min. The temperatures of the injector and the detector were 250°C and 280°C, respectively. The flow rate of carrier gas (helium) was 1 mL/min. The same capillary column and temperature program as in the GC analysis was used in GC/MS. Mass spectra in electron mode were generated at 70 eV. Qualitative analysis was based on retention indexes and mass spectra comparison with data in the literature and mass spectral libraries (29-31).