Identification of the Components ofPhiladelphus coronariusL. Essential Oil

Abstract

The volatile constituents of both dried and fresh leaves, twigs and flowers of Philadelphus coronarius L. (Hydrangeaceae) were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/FID and GC/MS. There were major differences between the various oils. For example, epi-13-manool (47.6 %) was the major component of the fresh flower oil, but was not detected in the dried flower oil, whereas isolongifolol (15.5%), 2-nonanol (11.1%) and 7-hydroxycoumarin (9.7%) were the principal components of the dried flower oil. In the oils of both the fresh and dried leaves the major constituent was (E,E)-farnesol, although the proportion of this compound in the fresh leaf oil was considerably higher (37.3%) than that of the dried leaf oil (3.2%). (E,E)-farnesol was also the major component of the fresh twig oil (16.6%), but was absent from the dried twig oil, the major constituent of which was (E,E)-2,4-decadienal (2.4%); however, this was not detected in the fresh twig oil.The plant materials were processed either fresh (collected in June, 2002) or dried at room temperature (collected in June, 2001). The oils were isolated by hydrodistillation for 4 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus, the oils being distilled into n-hexane as an absorbing medium, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate (1). The oils were stored in glass bottles at 4°C prior to analysis. Oil yields were 0.06% (V/m), 0.06% (v/m) (fresh and dried flowers oils), 0.05 % (v/m), 0.04 % (v/m) (fresh and dried leaves oils), 0.04 % (v/m), 0.04 % (v/m) (fresh and dried twigs oils), respectively. Previous WorkPhiladelphus coronarius is a popular ornamental shrub (2,3). Aqueous extracts of its flowers are used in traditional medicine and in homeopathy (4,5), but crude aqueous extracts of the leaves have been reported to be cytotoxic and as having antibacterial activities (6,7).Even though this plant has been a favourite in European gardens for centuries, little is known about its chemistry. Umbelliferone, scopoletin, stigmasterol-3β-d-glucoside and sitosterol-3β-d-glucoside were isolated from the chloroform extract of the leaves, and from the light petroleum extract, uvaol and 3β, 28-dehydroxyolean-11(12),13(18)-diene were obtained. The occurence of taraxasterol, β-amyrin, ursolic acid and oleanic acid in the light petroleum extract of the twigs (without leaves) was reported (8-10). The few volatile constituents recorded for P. coronarius to date include nopinone, trans-myrtanol, myrtenal, myrtenol, 2-formamidobenzaldehyde, veratraldehyde, 4,8-dimethylnona-1,3,7-triene and 4,8,12-trimethyltrideca-1,3,7,11-tetraene. The major constituents were Downloaded by [University of Tennessee, Knoxville] at 22:17 26 December 2014 Czigle et al.