Essential Oil Composition of Artemisia herba-alba Grown in Egypt
Hussein A. H. Said-Al Ahl
Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Department, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St., Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Wafaa M. Hikal *
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, P.O.Box 741, Tabuk 71491, Saudi Arabia and Water Pollution Research Department, Environmental Research Division, National Research Centre, 33 El-BohouthSt., Dokki,Giza, Egypt.
Kirill G. Tkachenko
V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2 Prof. Popova St., Saint Petersburg 197376, Russia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The objective of this research was to evaluate the significance of the plant's origin and to assess the essential oil composition of Artemisia herba-alba grown in Egypt simultaneously evaluating the effect of environmental conditions on essential oil composition. Seeds were planted and the essential oils extracted, using hydrodistillation, from the plants that grew. The resulting essential oils were examined, using gas chromatography linked to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Thus also evaluating the essential oil chemotype “fingerprint” in A. herba-alba. The study identified: the most abundant compounds being α-thujene (61.42%), acenaphthylene (10.68%) and 3-methyl-2-chloro-benzo (b) thiophene-1-oxide (9.59%). Beside five compounds with less values (α-pinene, sabenine, dibenzofuran, citronellyl acetate and 3-butyn-2-ol,2-methyl). Despite the origins of the seeds, the chemical profile was totally different to those of plants grown in Egypt, thus suggesting essential oil composition was significantly influenced by the environmental conditions. Based on the present study, it is suggested that seed origin may play a major significant part if the seed is planted in an environment different to that of its origin, also, this study proved that and favors the plant-environment interaction to influence the secondary metabolite composition. This supports that plant metabolite profiles are greatly affected by the environment they are grown in. Moreover, α-thujene is a new chemotype first found in Artemisia herba-alba from Egypt.
Keywords: Phytogeography, Artemisia herba-alba, Distribution of Euphorbiaceae, herb, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, Chemotype, Essential oils, α-Thujene.