Essential oil of Arnica montana and Arnica chamissonis

Abstract

The essential oil isolated from flowers of Arnica montana and A chamissonis grown on Tara mountain and neighbourhood of Uzice was analyzed. Three samples of A. montana and three of A. chamissonis were tested. The oil was isolated by distillation in a Clevenger type apparatus and analyzed by gas chromatography. The content of the oil was lower than 0.1% (up to 0.08%) in all the samples. Among about hundred recorded constituents, 84 were identified and quantified. Sum of contents of identified components ranged between 96.1 and 98.8%. The most abundant constituents of the A. montana oil were p-caryophyllene (31.5-34.6%), germacrene D (12.5-16.3%), trans-a-ionone (3.9-4.3%) and decanal (2.7-5.3%), while, in the case of A. chamissonis these were germacrene D (18.0-38.3%), a-pinene (6.6-19.1%), p-cymene (2.9-9.0%) and P-caryophyllene (2.7-4.7%). Along with detail chemical analysis of essential oil of these two commercially important herbal drugs it should be noticed that gas chromatographic technique can be used for differentiation of A. montana and A. chamissonis.