PROFILING SCREENING OF 55 SPECIES OF THE GENUS EUPHORBIA L. (EUPHORBIACEAE) AS POTENTIAL SOURCES OF ELLAGIC ACID

Abstract

Methanol extracts from the leaves of 55 species, belonging to 4 subgenera and 16 subsection of genus Euphorbia (Euphorbiaceae) have been screened for presence of ellagic acid (EA). EA was quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in fresh plant material Euphorbia sp. growing in Russia and Kyrgyzstan in the wild and in indoor and outdoor collections of the Peter the Great Botanical Garden of the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint-Petersburg). EA was detected in the extracts of 17 species of tree subgenera. In subgenus Althymalus Neck. Ex Rchb. EA was detected in E. hamata (Haw.) Sweet (section Anthacanthae Lem.), in subgenus Chamaesyce Raf. – E. maculata L. (section Anisophyllum Roep.); in subgenus Esula Pers. This compound was found in representatives of sections Esula (Pers.) Dumort. (E. virgata Waldst. Et Kit.), Helioscopia Dumort. (E. alpina Ledeb., E. aristata Schmalh., E. condylocarpa M. Bieb., E. lucorum Rupr. ex Maxim., E. palustris L., E. procera M. Bieb., E. semivillosa (Prokh.) Kryl., E. squamosa Willd., E. stricta L.), Holophyllum (Prokh.) Prokh. (E. griffithii Hook. f., E. komaroviana Prokh., E. rupestris Ledeb.), Paralias Dumort. (E. taurinensis All.) and Pithyusa (Raf.) Lázaro (E. glareosa Pall. Ex M. Bieb.). In 38 EA was not detected, including all studies species of subgenus Euphorbia. For 10 species (E. alpina, E. glareosa, E. griffithii, E. hamata, E. lucorum, E. procera, E. rupestris, E. semivillosa, E. stricta and E. taurinensis) EA was detected for the first time. Highest EA amount was found in leaves of E. hamata (4100 ppm) and E. squamosa (4300 ppm).