Composition and antiradical capacity of Achillea grandifolia essential oil from Serbia

M. Pavlović; S. Petrović; M. Milenković; J. Kukić; M. Couladis; O. Tzakou; M. Niketić

doi:10.1055/s-0028-1084920

Planta Medica, Table of Contents

Composition and antiradical capacity of Achillea grandifolia essential oil from Serbia

M Pavlović ¹, S Petrović ¹, M Milenković ², J Kukić ¹, M Couladis ³, O Tzakou ³, M Niketić ⁴

¹Institute of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, V. Stepe 450, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia
²Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, V. Stepe 450, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia
³Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, 15771 Athens, Greece
⁴Natural History Museum, Njegoševa 51, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

Achillea grandifolia Friv. (Compositae) [1] is a perennial plant distributed in Albania, Serbia, FYROM, Greece, Bulgaria and west Anatolia. Aerial parts of this species were collected in May 2007 in south-eastern Serbia (Sićevačka gorge), during the period of full flowering. The essential oil was isolated from the air-dried herb by hydrodistillation, according to the procedure of the European Pharmacopoeia 4 [2]. Essential oil yield was 0.35% (w/w). Isolated oil was light-green, with an aromatic, pleasant odour. The chemical analysis of the oil was performed using GC-FID and GC-MS. Forty-seven components (95.0% of the total oil) were identified. Analysed essential oil was characterized by a high amount (87.5%) of monoterpenes (oxygenated 73.3% and hydrocarbons 14.2%), with 1,8-cineole (28.8%) and camphor (22.8%) being the most abundant components, followed by borneol (4.9%) and α-terpinene (4.5%). Sesquiterpenes were present in smaller quantity (5.0%). In previously investigated essential oil of A. grandifolia from Greece quantity of camphor was similar (25.6%), while content of 1,8-cineole was about two times lower (12.8%). The essential oil of Greek origin was characterized by the high amount of mixture of cis- and trans-thujone (>20%), while in the Serbian oil their content was lower than 1% [3].

In order to investigate the antiradical capacity of the isolated A. grandifolia oil, a test of scavenging on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical was used [4]. The tested oil exhibited concentration-dependent antiradical activity, with SC₅₀ value at 6µl/ml. The oil was also tested using TLC-DPPH assay [4], which revealed few light-yellow spots indicating components with anti-DPPH activity.

References: 1. Richardson, I.B.K. (1976): Achillea L. In: Tutin, T.G. et al. (Eds). Flora Europaea 4. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 2. European Pharmacopoeia, Fourth Edition (2001). Council of Europe. Strasbourg. 3. Hanlidou, E. et al. (1992) Planta Med 58:105–7. 4. Cuendet, M. et al. (1997) Helv Chim Acta 80:1144–52.