Essential oil composition of Hypericum L. species from Southeastern Serbia and their chemotaxonomy
Introduction
Hypericum L. is a genus of about 400 species, widespread in warm-temperature areas throughout the world and well represented in the Mediterranean area (Robson and Strid, 1986). Plants of the genus Hypericum have traditionally been used as medicinal plants in various parts of the world (Yazaki and Okada, 1994). Hypericum perforatum occupies a special position among the species of Hypericum. The chemical composition of H. perforatum oil has been the subject of many publications (Cakir et al., 1997, Baser et al., 2002, Osinska, 2002, Schwob et al., 2002a, Mockute et al., 2003, Smelcerovic et al., 2004). The content of the oil depends on the origin of the plant. Thus, α-pinene was the most abundant component of the oil of H. perforatum from Turkey (61.7 %) (Cakir et al., 1997) and β-caryophyllene of the oil from Uzbekistan (11.7%) (Baser et al., 2002). The two monoterpenes (α- and β-pinene) made up to 70% of the leaf essential oil of H. perforatum from India (Weyerstahl et al., 1995). The H. perforatum oils from Lithuania have been classified into three chemotypes: β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide and germacrene D (Mockute et al., 2003). Considerable variation has already been reported in oil composition among different populations of H. perforatum from Serbia (Mimica-Dukic et al., 1997). The essential oil content of many other Hypericum species has been described: Hypericum androsaemum (Guedes et al., 2003), Hypericum brasiliense (Abreu et al., 2004), Hypericum coris (Schwob et al., 2002b), Hypericum dogonbadanicum (Sajjadi et al., 2001), Hypericum foliosum (Santos et al., 1999), Hypericum heterophyllum (Cakir et al., 2004), Hypericum hircinum (Bertoli et al., 2000), Hypericum hyssopifolium (Cakir et al., 2004), Hypericum lanceolatum (Vera et al., 1996), Hypericum linarioides (Cakir et al., 2005), Hypericum maculatum (Vasilieva et al., 2003), Hypericum perfoliatum (Couladis et al., 2001), Hypericum richeri (Ferretti et al., 2005), Hypericum rumeliacum (Couladis et al., 2003), Hypericum scabrum (Cakir et al., 1997, Baser et al., 2002), Hypericum triquetrifolium (Bertoli et al., 2003). The flora of Serbia lists 19 species of Hypericum (Josifovic, 1972). Recently, the chemical composition has been determined of the essential oils of Hypericum atomarium (Gudzic et al., 2004), H. maculatum (Gudzic et al., 2002), Hypericum olympicum (Gudzic et al., 2001) and H. perforatum (Gudzic et al., 2001, Smelcerovic et al., 2004), all originating from Southeastern Serbia.
The objective of this study was to determine the essential oil composition of nine wild-growing species of Hypericum (H. barbatum, H. hirsutum, H. linarioides, H. maculatum, H. olympicum, H. perforatum, H. richeri, H. rumeliacum and Hypericum tetrapterum) from the Southeastern region of Serbia and to examine their potential chemotaxonomic significance. The chemical composition of oils obtained from flower, leaf and stem of H. perforatum and of the oils of H. maculatum, H. olympicum and H. perforatum collected in years 1998, 2001 and 2003 are also discussed.
Section snippets
Plant material
Table 1 contains information concerning the species of Hypericum studied, the voucher numbers of the specimens deposited in the herbarium (Herbarium Moesicum Doljevac, Serbia and Montenegro), the site and date of collection, together with their taxonomic placement within sections of the genus Hypericum (Robson, 1977). All the plant samples were collected at bloom stage. Dried and ground drug was steam distilled for 2.5 h using a Clevenger apparatus.
Identification procedure
The oils were analyzed by analytical GC and
Essential oil composition of nine species of Hypericum
The compositions of the oils isolated from nine species of Hypericum are reproduced in Table 2. The oils were complex mixtures of non-terpenes, monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes: 98 components were identified in nine essential oils under study.
The non-terpene compounds made up the higher contribution (43.5%) in the essential oil of H. barbatum (Table 2, code A2003). The content of two fatty acids (hexadecanoic and octadecadienoic) amounted to 18.0%. The sesquiterpenes amounted to 28.3% with
Acknowledgements
We thank Prof. Dr. N. Randjelovic, Faculty of Occupation Safety Nis, Serbia, for taxonomic identification of the plant material and Prof. Dr. J. Jovanovic for critical reading of the manuscript. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany, supported the work through a fellowship to A. Smelcerovic.
References (37)
- et al.
Antifungal properties of essential oils and crude extracts of Hypericum linarioides
Biochem. Syst. Ecol.
(2005) - et al.
Composition of the essential oils of Hypericum perforatum L. from southeastern France
C. R. Biologies
(2002) - et al.
Composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Hypericum coris
Fitoterapia
(2002) - et al.
Phytochemical analysis and genetic characterisation of six Hypericum species from Serbia
Phytochemistry
(2006) - et al.
Essential oil composition of Hypericum brasiliens choise
Flavour Fragrance J.
(2004) Identification of Essential Oils by Ion Trap Mass Spectroscopy
(1989)Identification of Essential Oil Components by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry
(1995)- et al.
Essential oils of two Hypericum species from Uzbekistan
Khim. Prir. Soedin.
(2002) - et al.
Constituens of Hypericum hircinum oils
J. Essent. Oil Res.
(2000) - et al.
Volatile constituents of the leaves and flowers of Hypericum triqetrifolium Tuura
Flavour Fragrance J.
(2003)