Chemical Composition of Essential Oils from Rare and Endangered Species- Eryngium maritimum L. and E. alpinum L

Małgorzata Kikowska; Danuta Kalemba; Jolanta Dlugaszewska; Barbara Thiem

doi:10.3390/plants9040417

Chemical Composition of Essential Oils from Rare and Endangered Species- Eryngium maritimum L. and E. alpinum L

Plants (Basel). 2020 Mar 30;9(4):417. doi: 10.3390/plants9040417.

Authors

Małgorzata Kikowska¹, Danuta Kalemba², Jolanta Dlugaszewska³, Barbara Thiem¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and Plant Biotechnology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 61-861 Poznań, Poland.
² Institute of Natural Products and Cosmetics, Lodz University of Technology, 90-942 Łódź, Poland.
³ Department of Genetics and Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 60-781 Poznań, Poland.

Abstract

In the present study, the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the organs of Eryngium maritimum and E. alpinum were analyzed by GC-FID-MS. The dominant constituents assessed in the essential oil of E. maritimum were germacrene D (45.2%) in the fruits; hexadecanoic acid (18.5%), menthol (16.8%), and menthone (10.9%) in the roots; 2,3,4-trimethylbenzaldehyde (11.3%) and germacrene D (10.5%) in the leaves; 2,3,4-trimethylbenzaldehyde (11.3%) in the shoot culture. In the case of E. alpinum, the main components of the leaf oil were: β-elemenone (10.3%), germacrone (5.8%), two selinadienes (7.1% and 6.7%), and 1,8-cineole (5.3%), which were not found in the oil from shoot culture, whereas the shoot culture oil was dominated by hexadecanoic acid (15.5%), spathulenol (7.5%), (E)-β-farnesene (4.9%), germacra-4(15),5,10(14)-trien-1α-ol (4.7%), and falcarinol (4.3%). The essential oils obtained from E. maritimum fruits and leaves of the intact plants, measured by the broth microdilution method, were the most active against T. mentagophytes and S. aureus. Moreover, the essential oil of leaves had the moderate activity against C. albicans and E. coli. The results showed that the chemical compositions of the essential oils differed decidedly between the two studied species and between the organs. Furthermore, the essential oil of E. maritimum may play an important role as antimicrobial agent.

Keywords: Alpine eryngo; Sea holly; antimicrobial activity of the essential oil; essential oil composition; germacrene D; organs from intact plant; shoot in vitro cultures.