The volatile constituents of the sterile stems of Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) were investigated for the first time using GC, GC/MS and (13)C-NMR. Twenty-five compounds were identified. Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (18.34%), cis-geranyl acetone (13.74%), thymol (12.09%) and trans-phytol (10.06%) were the major constituents. A disk diffusion method was used for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of this oil against a panel of microorganisms (bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella enteritidis; fungi: Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans). The 1:10 dilution of the essential oil of Equisetum arvense L. was shown to possess a broad spectrum of a very strong antimicrobial activity against all tested strains.

The chemical composition of the aerial and root essential oils, hydrodistilled from Artemisia absinthium L. and Artemisia vulgaris L. (wild-growing populations from Serbia), were studied by gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance. During the storage of plant material under controlled conditions, a significant decrease of essential oil yields (isolated directly after drying and after 1 year of storage) and significant differences in their chemical compositions were observed. A possible mechanism for the observed oil component interconversion has been discussed. The noticeable differences in the chemical composition of the oils isolated from roots and aerial parts of A. absinthium and A. vulgaris were also correlated with the diverging biosynthetic pathways of volatiles in the respective plant organs. The antimicrobial activities against the common human pathogens of all of the isolated oils were tested according to National Committee on Clinical Laboratory Standards. The oils showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against the tested strains. Therefore, these oils can be used as flavor and fragrance ingredients.

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The present review describes and discusses the chemistry and chemotaxonomic implications, as well as hypothetical biogenetic considerations, of the essential oils isolated from 23 taxa of Balkan Achillea using multivariate statistical analysis.

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The first GC and GC/MS analyses of the essential oils hydrodistilled from dry leaves of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and Vaccinium vitis-idaea enabled the identification of 338 components in total (90.4 and 91.7% of the total GC peak areas, respectively). Terpenoids, fatty acids, fatty acid- and carotenoid derived compounds were predominant in the two samples. Both oils were characterized by high relative percentages of α-terpineol and linalool (4.7-17.0%). Compositional data on the volatiles of the presently analyzed and some other Ericaceae taxa (literature data) were mutually compared by means of multivariate statistical analyses (agglomerative hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis). This was done in order to determine, based on the essential oil profiles, possible mutual relationships of the taxa within the family, especially that of species from the genera Arctostaphylos and Vaccinium. Results of the chemical and statistical analyses pointed to a strong relation between the genera Vaccinium and Arctostaphylos.