Artemisia umbelliformis Lam. and Génépi Liqueur: Volatile Profile as Diagnostic Marker for Geographic Origin and To Predict Liqueur Safety

Abstract

Artemisia umbelliformis, commonly known as "white génépi", is characterized by a volatile fraction rich in α- and β-thujones, two monoterpenoids; under European Union (EU) regulations these are limited to 35 mg/L in Artemisia-based beverages because of their recognized activity on the human central nervous system. This study reports the results of an investigation to define the geographical origin and thujone content of individual plants of A. umbelliformis from different geographical sites, cultivated experimentally at a single site, and to predict the thujone content in the resulting liqueurs through their volatile fraction. Headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and non-separative HS-SPME-MS were used as analytical platforms to create a database suitable for chemometric description and prediction through linear discriminant analysis (LDA). HS-SPME-MS was applied to shorten analysis time. With both approaches, a diagnostic prediction of (i) plant geographical origin and (ii) thujone content of plant-related liqueurs could be made.

Neuropsychopharmacological profiling of scoparone in mice

“…Using high-performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC) we isolated scoparone as a major constituent from the extracts of the alpine wormwood species Artemisia umbelliformis Lam. (white genepì) used in the distillation of Génépi, a well-known traditional herbal liqueur or aperitif originating from the Alpine regions of Europe 5 , 6 . Although the bitter sesquiterpene lactones and the ketone monoterpene, thujone are the best-known psychoactive constituents of Artemisia spp.…”

“…Although the bitter sesquiterpene lactones and the ketone monoterpene, thujone are the best-known psychoactive constituents of Artemisia spp. 6 – 8 , we hypothesized that scoparone might contribute to the alleged psychoactive or neurotoxic effects of mugwort-based alcoholic drinks 5 , 9 . To date, the potential pharmacological effects of scoparone in the CNS have not been studied.…”

Food Authenticity: Provenancing. A Case Study of Fish

“…VOCs have shown to satisfactorily predict the country of origin of olive oil, truffles, Grana Padano cheese, as reviewed by Luykx et al [5] and crude palm oil, butter, cumin cheese, dry cured hams, and coffees, as listed by Pustjens et al [6]. More recently, VOCs have also shown to successfully verify geographical origin of Chinese cabbage [7], plant-related liquors [8], saffron [9], rosemary [10], teas [11], and capers [12]. For plant products, the difference in VOC profile was ascribed to differences in climate and soil type [13].…”