Introduction of Artemisia pontica L. and phytochemical analysis of volatile compounds in Lithuania

Abstract

Introduction: The introduction of medicinal, spice (aromatic) plants and the study of the biological and chemical properties of introduced plants increase the diversity of plant species with pharmacological action [3].There are scarce literature data about the composition of Artemisia pontica L. essential oils. It has been determined that A. pontica growing in different continents is dominated mostly by the monoterpene fraction [2,4]. The aim of this study was to investigate qualitative composition of essential oils of Artemisia pontica L. At present, there no data on the essential oil composition of A. pontica in Lithuania. Materials and methods: The object of investigation was Artemisia pontica L. a perennial medicinal, aromatic plant of Asteraceae (Bercht. & J. Presl) family. Raw material of A. pontica was collected in Medicinal plants collection ex situ of Botanical Garden at Vytautas Magnus University in 2018. The essential oils have been extracted by hydrodistillation method and analysed by the chromatographic techniques in the gas phase and chromatography in gas phase coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) so as to determine their chemical composition and identify their chemotype. The percentage composition of the essential oils was computed from GC peak areas without correction factors. Qualitative analysis was based on a comparison of retention times, indexes and mass spectra with the corresponding data in the literature [1] and computer mass spectra libraries. Results: In the composition of the essential oil of Artemisia pontica L. 33 substances were identified. Principal compounds were found to be 1,4-cineole (37.92%), camphor (29.41%), endoborneol (8.21%), 4-thujanol (5.24%), isogermacrene D (2.71%), β-phellandrene (2.14%), aromandendrene (0.91%). Conclusions: The data showed that the amounts of compounds with the content of major constituents varried significantly. [...]