HS‐SPME/GC Analysis Reveals the Population Variability of Terpene Contents in Juniperus communis Needles

Abstract

Juniperus communis var. communis L. is an aromatic plant - typical boreal element of flora. In the extensive literature concerning J. communis, there is much data on the composition and the content of essential oil of needles and coneberries, but a detailed analysis of terpene distribution within and between populations is missing. A representative pool of 74 J. communis individuals originating from ten populations of Northern Poland was investigated in order to evaluate the intra- and interpopulational variability of the terpene pattern. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with GC/MS and GC/FID was applied in achiral and enantioselective analysis. The majority of the samples (85%), despite different origin, were similar in the terpene pattern. High diversity of terpenes was observed within the populations and low diversity between them. High variation of enantiomeric composition was in accordance with large variation of individual compounds in general (achiral analysis). J. communis samples from Northern Poland could be distinguished by the alpha-pinene/sabinene ratio, and they were divided into three chemical races.

Chemodiversity of a Scots pine stand and implications for terpene air concentrations

“…Hiltunen, 1975; Gref and Lindgren, 1984). Chemotypic diversity and bimodal distributions of monoterpenes are seen in oleoresin extracts of many coniferous species, for example Slash pine (β-pinene and myrcene, Gansel and Squillace, 1976), Norway spruce ( 3 -carene and pinenes, Esteban et al, 1976;Orav et al, 1996), Douglas fir ( 3 -carene and pinenes, Latta et al, 2003) and Common juniper (Common juniper (α-pinene and sabinene, Filipowicz et al, 2009). It has been recognized that the rates of terpenoid emissions from vegetation change significantly with time, and it can be asked if the chemotypic variation also changes with seasons.…”

Essential oils of indigenous in Greece six Juniperus taxa

“…The specimen J. communis sensu lato has attracted significant research interest, mainly because of its edible fruits which produce a thoroughly investigated EO (Chatzopoulou et al 2002;Milojevic et al 2008;Orav et al 2010aOrav et al , 2010b. The EO derived from its leaves was also studied (Orav et al 2010a(Orav et al , 2010b providing interesting data in respect the plant's chemodiversity (Filipowicz et al 2009) and the relation between stress and composition (Marko et al 2008). The EO derived from the leaves of J. communis L. ssp.…”

“…is reported to display potent repellent, insecticidal, oviposition-deterrent or larvicidal properties (Prajapati et al 2005;Amer andMehlhorn 2006a, 2006b). Although the chemical composition of these EOs has already been studied, their enantiomeric composition is not well established (Ochocka et al 1997;Filipowicz et al 2009;Orav et al 2010a). In respect to the contained pinene isomers (major components of Juniper's EOs), LC 50 values of 47 and 49 mg L −1 have been respectively reported for (+)-a-pinene and (−)-a-pinene, while the (−)-β enantiomer was more toxic displaying an LC 50 value near 36 mg L −1 (Trabousli et al 2002;Michaelakis et al 2009a).…”

Both Gas Chromatography and an Electronic Nose Reflect Chemical Polymorphism of Juniper Shrubs Browsed or Avoided by Sheep

“…A Swedish population showed high amounts of α-pinene, with moderate amounts of β-pinene, myrcene, limonene, δ-3-carene, and β-phellandrene, and low amounts of sabinene (Adams, 1998). Sabinene-type and α-pinene-type junipers have been described for Poland (Filipowicz et al, 2009) and Lithuania (Butkiene et al, 2007(Butkiene et al, , 2009). The δ-3-carene has been described in many other juniper species (Adams, 1998;Angioni et al, 2003) and also in pines (Rocchini et al, 2000;Hiltunen and Laakso, 1995).…”