Composition of the Essential Oil of Helianthemum kahiricum Del. from Iran

Journal of Essential Oil Research: JEOR, Jan/Feb 2007 by Javidnia, K, Nasiri, A, Miri, R, Jamalian, A

Abstract

The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained from aerial parts of Helianthemum kahiricum Del. was investigated by GC and GC/MS. The main components were hexadecanoic acid (36.2%), tetradecanoic acid (7.3%), linoleic acid (6.5%) and dodecanoic acid (4.7%).

Key Word Index

Helianthemum kahiricum, Cistaceae, essential oil composition, hexadecanoic acid.

Plant Name

Helianthemum kahiricum Del., Cistaceae (1).

Source

Aerial parts of H. kahiricum were collected in March 2003 from Bandarabas at the time of flowering. The plant was identified by the Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands, Hormozgan, Iran. A specimen (Herbarium no. 3120) has been deposited in the Herbarium of the Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands, Hormozgan, Iran.

Plant Part

The aerial parts of H. kahiricum were air-dried at ambient temperature in the shade and hydrodistilled by using a Clevenger-type apparatus for 4 h. The yield of the oil was 0.01% and the oil was yellow in color. It was dissolved in hexane (Merck), dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored at 4�-6�C.

Previous Work

A survey of the literature did not reveal any report on the constituents of the essential oils of Helianthemum species. Flavonoids and diterpene acids were isolated from H. umbellatum (2,3)

Present Work

GC analysis was carried out using a Varian GC 3600 chromatograph with DB-5 column (30 m x 0.25 mm; 0.25 �m). Oven temperature was performed as follows: 60�-260�C at 3�C/min; injector temperature 240�C; detector temperature, 250�C; carrier gas, He (0.8 mL/min); split ratio 1:20. Relative percentage amounts of the separated compounds were calculated electronically from FID area data without the use of correlation factors. GC/MS analysis was carried out using a Hewlett-Packard 6890 operating at 70 eV ionization energy, equipped with a HP-5 capillary column (phenyl methyl siloxane, 30m X 0.25 mm; 0.25 �m) with He as the carrier gas; flow rate 0.8 mL/min and split ratio 1:20.

The compounds were identified by comparison of retention indices (RRI, HP-5) with those reported in the literature and by comparison of their mass spectra with the Wiley and MassFinder 3 libraries or with the published mass spectra (4-6).

The yield of the oil was 0.01%. Data obtained from qualitative and quantitative determination of the oil sample is shown in Table I. Sixty-nine components representing 93.2% of the total oil were identified. The main components of the oil were hexadecanoic acid (36.2%), tetradecanoic acid (7.3%), linoleic acid (6.5%) and dodecanoic acid (4.7%).

The oil consists mainly of fatty acids (56.0%) with total 69.2% non-terpenic compounds. Monoterpenes (14.0%) and sesquiterpenes (9.8%) were present in the oil as minor compounds.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant from the Technology Council ofShiraz Province and the Research Council ofShiraz University of Medical Sciences.

References

1. W. Mozaffarian, A Dictionary of Iranian Plant Names, pp. 56-58, Farhang Moaser, Tehran, Iran, (1996).

2. T. De Pascual, J.Q. Drones, P. Basabe, A. Llanos and I. Sanchez, Flavnoids from Cistaceae III. Hellanthemum umbellatum (L.) Spach, Cistus laurifollus L and C. monspellensls L An. Quim. 75, 168-171 (1979).

3. T. De Pascual, J.G. Drones and I. Sanchez, Components of Helianthemum umbellatum L Spach. III. Helimic[ent-9,1-friedolabda-1(10), 13-E-diene-15-hydroxy-18-oic] acid and derivatives. An. Quim., 74,488-493 (1978).

4. P.P. Adams, Identification of Essential oil Components by Gas Chromatography/ Quadropole Mass Spectroscopy. Allured Publ. Corp., Carol Stream, IL (2001).

5. H. Van Den Dool and P.O. Kratz, A generalization of the retention index system including linear temperature programmed gas-liquid partition Chromatography. J. Chromatogr., 11,463-471 (1963).

6. Y. Massada, In Analysis of Essential oil by Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry, Wiley, New York (1976).

K. Javidnia* and A. Nasiri

Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

R. Miri and A. Jamalian

Medicinal & Natural Products Chemistry Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

* Address for correspondence