Aerial parts volatile components of three different accessions of Eryngium thyrsoideum Boiss. from Iran

In this study, Eryngium thyrsoideum Boiss. was collected from three regions Razjerd (Rz) (Qazvin province), Salavatabad (Sv) (Sanandaj, Kurdistan province), and Paygelan (Py) (Marivan, Kurdistan province) at 1700, 1780, and 1840 m above the sea level, respectively, and their volatile components were evaluated. The shade-dried plant materials were hydrodistillated by Clevenger-type apparatus for three hours. The analysis of essential oils composition was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and quantified by GC-FID. The essential oil content was obtained 0.06, 0.05, and 0.07% (w/w) for Rz, Py and Sv, respectively. The main components of essential oils were 2,3,6-trimethyl benzaldehyde (18.6, 11.5 and 34.0%), 2,4,6-trimethyl benzaldehyde (3.0, 1.0 and 4.1%), germacrene D (2.5, 12.6 and 6.0%), ethyl linoleate (7.6, 8.7 and 5.1%), sesquicineole (0.3, 5.8 and 3.0%), and trans-caryophyllene (5.6, 2.5 and 1.9%) (the numbers in parentheses for Rz, Py and Sv, respectively). In this regard, the water-soluble volatile components of these plants, as distilled water components obtained from the Clevenger side part, were also extracted and finally separated using ethyl acetate solvent and analyzed similarly to essential oil compounds. The amount of these components, as the organic fraction (Of) of distilled water, was 0.017, 0.02, and 0.04 gram per 100 ml of distilled water in Rz, Py, and Sv samples, respectively. The main identified components of these fractions were, 2,3,6-trimethyl-benzaldehyde (69.8, 54.5 and 58.6%), p-vinyl-guaiacol (12.0, 26.7 and 24.7%), 2,4,6-trimethyl-benzaldehyde (9.7, 5.8 and 4.4%), and trans-anethole (4.0, 4.1 and 5.0%) for OfRz, OfPy, and OfSv, respectively. Although E. thyrsoideum does not have a high essential oil percentage, it has a wide range of components. This species has a high content of trimethyl-benzaldehye family compounds. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of volatile components of E. thyrsoideum.