Active Ingredients of Essential Oil Separated from Volkamer Lemon Trees that were Treated with Nicotinic Acid

Abstract

Essential oil (EO) of Volkamer lemon can be used in food, pharmaceutical and perfumery products. Nicotinic acid (NA) has a physiological role in EO biosynthesis. This study aimed to evaluate the EO isolated from leaves, peels and flowers of Volkamer lemon in response to NA treatments. Volkamer lemon trees were subjected to different doses of NA (0, 20 and 40 mg/l). The EO of leaves, peels and flowers were isolated by hydrodistillation method (HD), then, analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Data were statistically analyzed using ANOVA. The greatest amounts of leaf, peel and flower EO were recorded with NA at 20 mg/l. Sabinene and limonene were the major components of leaf EO; while limonene and γ-terpinene were identified as main components of peel EO; limonene, nerol, linalool and sabinene were the main components of flower EO. NA at 40 mg/l resulted in the maximum values of all major components. The characterized components of leaf and peel EO belonged to four chemical classes such as monoterpene hydrocarbons (MH), oxygenated monoterpenes (OM), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (SH) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (OS); while the identified components of flower EO belonged to five chemical classes such as MH, OM, SH, OS and diterpene hydrocarbons (DH). Different changes were found in various chemical classes due to NA doses.