Comparison of essential oils of endemic Satureja visianii Šilić with other Satureja species of Croatia

About 200 species of herbs and shrubs, often aromatic, belong to the genus Satureja (Lamiaceae, subfamily Nepetoideae and tribe Saturejeae), widely distributed in the Mediterranean area, Asia and boreal America [1]. Four of them are to be found in the Mediterranean part of Croatia: Satureja montana L., S. cuneifolia Ten., S. subspicata and endemic one S. visianiiŠilić. As a part of our continuing studies we identified phytochemical composition and antibacterial activity of the first three species [2–4]. This abstract reports for first time the composition and comparative analysis of the S. visianii volatile oils. This species differs from all the plants of genus Satureja with regard to morphology of flower structure because it has yellowish corolla with purple dots and stripes [5]. It grows only over a narrow belt of the Pelješac peninsula (near Dubrovnik). Water distilled essential oils from aerial parts of S. visianii have been analysed by GC/FID and GC/MS using CP Sil 8 CB capillary column. Total yield of oil was 2.0%, based on dry weight of samples. Forty-six compounds were identified and they represent 92.2% of the total oil. The main components were camphor (18.7%), α-thujene (10.9%), α-pinene (5.8%) and limonene (5.4%). Major compounds of S. montana and S. cuneifolia [7] were thymol, carvacrol, p-cymene, γ-terpinene, and α-pinene, a specific constituent of S. subspicata [8].S. visianii contains up to 2.6% of thymol and carvacrol. All the oils of our four savory plants were characterized by a high content of limonene, which is a natural monoterpene with chemotherapeutic activity [9].

Acknowledgements: The Ministry of Science and Technology of Republic of Croatia supported this work, through grant No. 177–1191192–0830.

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