Essential‐Oil Diversity of Three Calamintha Species from Greece

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to contribute to the knowledge of the essential-oil composition of the Calamintha officinalis-nepeta complex in Greece and to clarify the main patterns of its variation. The oils obtained from 22 wild-growing populations of C. glandulosa, C. nepeta, and C. menthifolia were studied. They could be classified into two different chemotypes, which correspond to the main biosynthetic routes of the C(3)-oxygenated p-menthane compounds. Chemotype I includes oils rich in trans-piperitone oxide, cis-piperitone oxide, and piperitenone oxide, while Chemotype II comprises oils rich in pulegone and menthone or menthone and isomenthone. Within both chemotypes, quantitative fluctuations of the main components were observed. Comparison with published data showed that the presence of Chemotype II has not been observed before in C. menthifolia, while Chemotype I has been reported in C. nepeta plants from Greece for the first time.

Chemical diversity of accessions of the in vivo germplasm bank of Varronia curassavica (Jacq.)

“…Within the same population, essential oil presents differences in chemical composition due to biological activities of the plant (Eisenman, Juliani, Struwe, & Simon, 2013). This variation within the same species has been reported by several researchers (Rao, Rajput, & Mallavarapu, 2011;Karousou, Hanlidou, & Lazari, 2012;Verma, Padalia, Chauhan, & Thul, 2013).…”

Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi and its Main Essential Oil Constituent Pulegone: Biological Activities and Chemistry

“…The literature data clearly indicate the presence of a remarkable chemical polymorphism and great intraspecific variability. Some authors observed that the oil composition seemed to be independent of the geographical origin of the sample [ 34 , 75 ], while others reported a strong chemical variability depending on the origin of the samples [ 51 ], as well as environmental conditions on the nature of plant chemical composition [ 17 ]. Described chemotypes are diverse, but the major components in the oils generally belong to the C-3 oxygenated p -menthanes such as PUL, menthone, isomenthone, and piperitone and piperitenone with their oxides or, more rarely, C-6 oxygenated p -menthane compounds such as carvone ( Table 2 ) [ 17 , 23 ].…”

“…The presence of at least 46 compounds in the oil was also reported, and the major ones were found to be the two diastereoisomers of piperitone oxide (55%) and β-bisabolene (8.5%) [ 81 ]. Another study on material of Greek origin showed 41% of PUL and 32% of menthone, with piperitone (7.3%) and piperitenone (7%) as important constituents [ 82 ], while two chemotypes were noted by others [ 75 ]. The first was rich in PUL and/or menthone and/or isomenthone, and the sum of the contents of these three ketones ranged from 56.8% to 89.9%.…”

Chemical composition of the essential oil from Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi plants growing in the flora of Azerbaijan

“…There are a lot of literature information relating to research biological activities and the essential oil extracted from the Calamintha species [Kitic et al, 2005;Alan et al, 2010;Septi et al, 2011;Regina et al, 2012]. Aforementioned species contain bioactive materials like essential oils, flavonoids, vitamin C, saponins, triterpenoide,.…”