Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vol. 45, No. 3, 2009 THE ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION OF Gnaphalium luteo-album* B. Demirci,1*K. H. C. Baser,1 and H. Duman2 UDC 547.913 The genus Gnaphalium L. (Asteraceae) is represented in Turkey by six different species and altogether seven taxa, only one being endemic. G. luteo-album L. (flannel-leaf or cud-weed in English) is an annual woolly plant with simple entire and sessile leaves, having small clustered heads. The stem is leafless, growing upwards, and heads are corymbose [1]. It is very common as a weed, particularly in sunny wet places. The leaves are used as astringent, cholagogue, diuretic, febrifuge, and haemostatic [2]. The whole plant is used in the treatment of breast cancer in Belgium [3] and for lactation in India [4]. TABLE 1. Composition of the Essential Oil of Gnaphalium luteo-album L. Compound α-Pinene 3-Hexanone 2-Hexanone Hexanal Undecane β-Pinene δ-2-Carene α-Phellandrene Heptanal Limonene 1,8-Cineole 2-Hexanol 2-Pentyl furan γ-Terpinene p-Cymene Octanal Hexanol Nonanal Tetradecane (E)-2-Octenal Decanal Camphor α-Gurjunene (E)-2-Nonenal Linalool β-Caryophyllene RRI % 1032 1058 1087 1093 1100 1118 1146 1176 1194 1203 1213 1223 1244 1255 1280 1296 1360 1400 1400 1441 1506 1532 1544 1548 1553 1612 2.0 1.9 2.0 1.0 0.4 0.3 Tr. Tr. 0.9 1.5 1.7 0.4 1.2 0.2 0.4 1.0 0.2 4.1 0.5 0.2 9.7 Tr. 6.4 0.3 0.4 8.0 Compound Undecanal α-Humulene α-Terpineol Dodecanal Naphthalene (E,E)-2,4-Decadienal Octyl hexanoate (E)-Geranyl acetone (E)-β-Ionone Caryophyllene oxide Octyl octanoate Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone Pentadecanal Carvacrol 1-Methylethyl hexadecanoic acid Dodecanoic acid Tetradecanoic acid Hexadecanoic acid Monoterpene hydrocarbons Oxygenated monoterpenes Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons Oxygenated sesquiterpenes Aliphatic compounds Fatty acids and esters Others Total RRI % 1617 1687 1706 1722 1763 1827 1829 1868 1958 2008 2020 2131 2041 2239 2251 2503 2670 2931 1.1 0.3 Tr. 2.5 0.7 0.5 0.6 1.2 0.3 3.6 2.0 1.2 2.4 1.7 3.0 2.4 0.5 1.9 4.4 5.0 14.7 3.6 29.1 10.4 3.4 70.6 ______ RRI: relative retention indices calculated against n-alkanes; %: calculated from FID data; Tr.: trace (<0.1%). ______ *Presented at the 6th International Symposium on the Chemistry of Natural Compound (6th SCNC), 28–29 June 2005, Ankara, Turkey. 1) Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacognosy, Anadolu University, 26470 Eskisehir, Turkey, e-mail: betuldemirci@gmail.com; 2) Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of Biology, Gazi University, 06330, Ankara, Turkey. Published in Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 375–376, May–June, 2009. Original article submitted November 6, 2007. 446 0009-3130/09/4503-0446 ©2009 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. An infusion of the aerial parts has been reportedly used as an emmenagogue [5]. The flowering aerial parts of G. dioicum L. are used similar to Helichrysum species in Anatolia [6]. The antiinflammatory activity of several extracts obtained from the aerial parts of G. luteo-album has been reported [7]. Phytochemical studies on this species revealed the occurrence of flavones, flavonols, and an alkaloid [8–10]. The microdistilled essential oil from the herbal parts of G. luteo-album was analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The compounds characterized are given with their percentage amounts in Table 1. Forty-four compounds were identified in the oil of G. luteo-album, representing 70.6% of the total oil with 4.4% monoterpene hydrocarbons, 5.0% oxygenated monoterpenes, 14.7% sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, 3.6% oxygenated sesquiterpenes, 29.1% aliphatic compounds, 10.4% fatty acids and esters, and 3.4% others. The main constituents were found to be decanal (9.7%), β-caryophyllene (8.0%), and α-gurjunene (6.4%). To the best of our knowledge, there is no report on the essential oil composition of G. luteo-album. Microdistillation was utilized as a useful tool enabling the analysis of ~200 mg plant material for its volatiles. This technique has also been successfully applied to investigate the composition of volatiles in minute samples of medicinal and aromatic plants in a short time [11–13]. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors are grateful to Napralert for the literature survey. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. P. H. 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