Profiling of Coumarins in Peucedanum palustre (L.) Moench Populations Growing in Finland

Abstract

The coumarin composition of Peucedanum palustre (L.) Moench populations growing in Finland was investigated. A total of 132 flowering P. palustre specimens from 43 locations in southern and central Finland were collected, divided into root, stem, leaf, and umbel samples, and analyzed by HPLC. HPLC coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry was used to aid the identification of coumarins. A total of 13 coumarin-structured compounds were quantitatively analyzed from the samples. The coumarin profile of root samples was found to differ from the aerial plant parts. The main coumarins in roots were oxypeucedanin and columbianadin. In aerial parts, peulustrin isomers were the most abundant coumarin components. Umbels and leaves also contained a considerable amount of umbelliprenin, which was only found in traces in roots. Based on hierarchical cluster analysis of the coumarin profiles, some populations shared common characteristics. The most distinct property connecting certain populations was their high peulustrin content. Another notable common property between some populations was the high umbelliprenin content in aerial plant parts. Some populations were clustered together due to their low overall coumarin content.

Direct analysis of Peucedanum palustre samples by desorption atmospheric pressure photoionization-mass spectrometry

“…The identification of columbianadin and umbelliprenin was confirmed by comparing their MS 2 product ion spectra to those of the corresponding standard compounds ( Figure S1 in Supplementary material). Unfortunately, peulustrin standard was not available.The identification of columbianadin, umbelliprenin, and peulustrin and its isomers is in good agreement with previous HPLC-ESI-MS 2 experiments performed using the same plant material (Yrjönen et al, 2016). Also in the HPLC-ESI-MS 2 measurements, the peulustrin isomers were shown to be the main compounds in P. palustre leaves and umbels.…”

“…Peulustrin and its isomers are ideal marker compounds for the plant material, as they have only been identified from P. palustre and no other plant species, and since in our earlier study, peulustrin isomers were detected in all Finnish P. palustre samples in moderate to high concentrations (Yrjönen et al, 2016). Columbianadin was also detected in almost all plant samples, but in lower concentrations.…”

“…3) and its isomers are furanocoumarins that are characteristic to P. palustre, and have not been found in any other plants in the genus or family. Furthermore, these isomers are the main components in Finnish P. palustre specimens constituting approximately 50% of the total coumarin concentration in the aerial plant parts (Yrjönen et al, 2016).…”

“…The [M+H] + ion of columbianadin and its isomer at m/z 329, or the ions due to umbelliprenin, were not detected with toluene. Instead, intense ions at m/z 401, 383 and 365, probably originating from dihydroxylated sesquiterpene coumarins, were observed (Yrjönen et al, 2016). DAPPI-MS 2 product ion spectra of precursor ions at m/z 329, 367, 401, and 445 in positive ion mode are presented in Table 1.…”

“…Milk parsley, Peucedanum palustre (L.) Moench, is an umbelliferous plant growing in wetlands and damp environments in most parts of Europe (Meredith and Grubb, 1993). It contains a wide array of linear and angular furanocoumarins, as well as some simple coumarins (Eeva et al, 2004;Harborne, 1982;Yrjönen et al, 2016). These coumarins are thought to play a role in the defence of the plant against various environmental stress factors (Hadaček et al, 1994;Ojala et al, 1999;Siskos et al, 2008) and some of them also possess various pharmacological effects (Lim et al, 2014;Pae et al, 2002;Sancho et al, 2004).…”