Planta Med 2008; 74 - PI53
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1084961

Volatile composition of three Trifolium species

T Sabudak 1, AC Goren 2
  • 1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Letters, Namık Kemal University, 59860, Tekirdag, Turkey
  • 2TÜBİTAK, UME, P.O. Box. 54, 41470 Gebze-Kocaeli, Turkey

The genus Trifolium L. includes about 248 Leguminous species, many of which are important forage crops throughout the world [1]. In Turkey, it is represented with 103 species [2]. In Turkish folk medicine, some Trifolium species such as T. repens, T. arvense and T. pratense are used as expectorant, analgesic, antiseptic and tonic [3]. Some of them are important feeding material for sheep and cattle in the Mediterranean [4]. Since the different Trifolium are very important fort he nutrition of domestic animals, many agricultural species of Trifolium are widely cultivated in the world [5,6,7].

In this sytudy, the volatile compounds of Trifolium echinatum L., Trifolium stellatum var. stellatum L. and Trifolium nigrescens subs. petrisavi (Celm) Holmboe (Leguminosae), were obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus, and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. In total, forty one constituents (terpenoids, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, hydrocarbons, fatty acids and benzene compounds) were identified from Trifolium oils. The present work is the first report on the these plants oil composition. According to the chemical class distribution of the oils of Trifolium species, the fatty acids (29.7–63.4%), esters (6.2–47.4%), benzene compounds (6.4–12.7%) and ketones (2.6–29.4%) are among the most abundant class of volatile compounds of three Trifolium species.

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