Chemical Composition of Angelica glauca Roots Volatile Oil from Indian Himalayan Region by GC-MS

Abstract

The species Angelica glauca is found wild in North-Western and eastern Himalayan region from Kashmir to Uttarakhand at an altitude ranging between 1500-3700 m above mean sea level and reported against various disease conditions. The present study was conducted to investigate the essential oil composition of A. glauca roots from Kumaun Himalaya of Uttarakhand region. Essential oil was isolated from dried roots of A. glauca collected from high altitude region of Uttarakhand by hydro-distillation method and subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The main compounds identified were trans-ligustilide followed by (Z)-3-butylidenephthalide, α-phellandrene, β-phellandrene, p-cymene, (-)-spathulenol. It was also found that the essential oil contain highest amount of trans-ligustilide reported from this species so far which is an indicative of the high therapeutic potential of the essential oil due to substantial effects specially neuroprotective effect of the compound. The study concluded that large scale cultivation of roots and production of essential oil of A. glauca can be very beneficial for the upliftment of the rural population of the Himalayan region.