Chemical Composition of the Essential Oils of the Iberian Peninsula Endemic Species Eryngium dilatatum Lam.

Abstract

Eryngium dilatatum Lam. is a thorny Iberian Peninsula endemic species belonging to the Apiaceae family that has not been previously analysed from a chemical point of view. Following our studies on this genus, we characterized the chemical composition of the essential oils from the different parts (inflorescences, stems + leaves, and roots) of this species; these parts were gathered in Cádiz (Spain). The specimens were collected in July during the flowering period and air-dried before the oil extraction by hydro-distillation. The essential oils were analysed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The different parts of the plant yielded low amounts of pale yellow oil, with the roots being the fraction that provided the lowest amount of oil. The chemical characterization of the essential oils showed qualitative and quantitative differences between the fractions examined, but all of them showed the same principal compound, germacrene D (9.1–46.5%). Similarly, all the fractions shared most of their representative constituents, with their percentage compositions being different from one sample to the other: α-cadinol (3.8%), bicyclogermacrene (3.5%), octanal (3.1%), and spathulenol (2.5%) were found in the inflorescences; octanal (8.1%), α-cadinol (3.7%), δ-cadinene (3.6%), (E)-caryophyllene (2.6%), bicyclogermacrene (2.5%), and spathulenol (2.4%) were found in the stems and leaves; and spathulenol (4.6%), α-cadinol (4.4%), khusinol (3.2%), α-muurolol (3.1%), and δ-cadinene (2.6%) were found in the roots. As far as we know, this is the first report about the chemical composition of this endemic species of the Iberian Peninsula. It contributes to the knowledge of this species and to the genus to which it belongs. This species could be considered as a natural source of germacrene D, which is a sesquiterpene hydrocarbon with active properties.

The Essential Oil Composition of Eryngium galioides Lam.—An Endemic Species of the Iberian Peninsula

“…A reason for this could be that the habitat where it grows is not as hard as that of other species such as E. buorgatii and E. glaciale growing in high mountains, but harder than others as E. corniculatum, which lives on the margins of seasonal lakes and, therefore, disposes of water during its flowering and fruiting. In agreement with previous references [10,12,17,21,22,25,[28][29][30][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], our results indicate that the species of this genus are perfectly adapted to the environment in which they develop, and that may affect the yield of their essential oils. It would, however, be interesting to analyze the plasticity of these species under controlled conditions to understand the possible effect of climate change on their survival and distribution.…”

“…, 55 (40), 137 (39), 69 (30), 161 (23), 205 (20), 189 (10); n.i. 2 I = 1606, 220[M + ] (15), 159 (100), 93 (65), 119 (45), 177 (43), 107 (35), 135 (34), 79 (30), 41 (28), 67 (20), 149 (15), 204 (15), 189 (10); Phyllocladene isomer I = 1857, 272[M + ] (1), 91 (100), 55 (83), 115 (78), 117 (70), 129 (55), 159 (53), 41 (48), 77 (47), 103 (45), 141 (40), 173 (15), 187 (10), 229 (8), 256 (5). Main compounds on bold.…”

“…Most of them relative to the chemical composition of the essential oils. The species analyzed to date in alphabetical order are Eryngium alpinum [8], Eryngium amethystinum [8][9][10][11], Eryngium aquifolium [12], Eryngium barrelieri [13], Eryngium billardieri [14,15], Eryngium bornmuelleri [16], Eryngium bourgatii [17], Eryngium bungei [18], Eryngium caeruleum [19,20], Eryngium campestre [9,10,21,22], Eryngium caucasicum [23,24], Eryngium corniculatum [25], Eryngium creticum [26,27], Eryngium dilatatum [28], Eryngium duriaei [29,30], Eryngium eriophorum [31], Eryngium expansum [32], Eryngium floribundum [31], Eryngium foetidum [33][34][35][36][37][38], Eryngium glaciale [39], Eryngium horridum [31], Eryngium maritimum [40][41][42][43][44][45], Eryngium nudicaule [31], Eryngium palmatum [46], Eryngium palmatum ...…”

“…The species growing under hard climatic conditions and at high altitude that are geophytes or hemicryptophytes contain a great amount of diterpenes-compounds making up the predominant fraction of the oil in Eryngium bourgatii [17] and E. glaciale [38]. In fact, altitude has been described to affect the chemical composition of the Iberian endemic species, E. duriaei [28]. The populations that grow below 1700 m showed α-neocallitropsene (28-53%), β-betulenal (8.5-15.8%) and 14-hydroxy-β-caryophyllene (5.8-13.7%) as their main compounds, while caryophyllene oxide (47%) and E-caryophyllene (6%) were identified in the analyzed population over this altitude [28].…”

“…In fact, altitude has been described to affect the chemical composition of the Iberian endemic species, E. duriaei [28]. The populations that grow below 1700 m showed α-neocallitropsene (28-53%), β-betulenal (8.5-15.8%) and 14-hydroxy-β-caryophyllene (5.8-13.7%) as their main compounds, while caryophyllene oxide (47%) and E-caryophyllene (6%) were identified in the analyzed population over this altitude [28]. On the other hand, species growing close to wet areas or in seasonal lakes while, normally therophytes, such as E. corniculatum, exhibited monoterpenes as the largest fraction of the oils [25].…”