Chemical components of essential oils from aerial parts of Pycnanthemum virginianum and P. californicum (Lamiaceae) plants

Abstract

Aim. The research is aimed at determining the qualitative and quantitative content of essential oils in the aerial part of two species of the genus Pycnanthemum Michx. (Lamiaceae) – P. virginianum (L.) T. Durand & B.D. Jacks. ex B.L. Rob & Fernald and P. californicum Norr. exDurand. The plants were introduced in the M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Forest-Steppe zone). These are representatives of the flora of North America, and they are little known in Ukraine. Plants have useful medicinal and nutritional properties, but the biochemical composition of their essential oils has not been sufficiently studied in the world.Materials and methods. In the experiment, the aerial herbal part of plants collected during the flowering phase was used. The quantitative content of the essential oil was determined by the hydrodistillation method, and its qualitative characteristics were found by the GC-MS analysis. The chromatographic profile was obtained on an Agilent Technologies 7890. The component composition of the essential oil was determined on a gas chromatograph with a HP 6890 mass spectrometric detector with a mass spectrometric detector 5973. We used a mass spectrometric detector 1.6 – 800 a.o.m., EI ionization, SIM & Scan mode, “Hewlett Packard”, USA. Identification of essential oil components was performed using the NIST mass spectrum library in combination with AMDIS content-time identification programs.Results and discussion. P. virginianum was found to produce 1.96 ± 0.17 % of essential oil, in which 12 compounds out of 13 were identified; P. californicum had 2.66 ± 0.13 % of essential oil, 13 compounds out of 15 were identified. The essential oil samples obtained have pulegone as the dominant component: P. virginianum – 44.65 %, P. californicum – 86.07 %. In addition to it, they also contain thymol, myrcene, 1.8-cineole, menthone, limonene and other compounds.Conclusions. For the first time, the qualitative and quantitative composition of the essential oils of plants of P. virginianum and P. californicum species introduced in Ukraine has been determined. The results obtained indicate that when introduced plants have a high biosynthesizing ability to produce essential oil. Pulegone has been found to be the dominant component; therefore, the essential oil can be classified as a pulegone-type essential oil. We believe that the raw material of P. virginianum and P. californicum are potentially suitable for use in perfumery, cosmetics, aromatherapy, personal care products, dentistry, and in the pharmaceutical and food industries.