Abstract
The species-rich and diverse genus Pimpinella is mainly distributed in Europe and Asia; a few species occur in Africa. Yet, the Javanian Pimpinella, P. pruatjan, which has been used as an aphrodisiac in Indonesian traditional medicine, was studied for the first time in the context of chemical composition, as well as phylogeny analysis and antimicrobial activity. We examined the chemical composition of the essential oil (EO) from aerial parts of P. pruatjan by gas liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GLC-MS). The main component of EO was (Z)-γ-bisabolene. Several oxygenated monoterpenes, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, and sesquiterpenes were also detected. The genetic relationship of Pimpinella pruatjan Molk. to other Pimpinella species was reconstructed using nucleotide sequences of the nuclear DNA marker ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacer). P. pruatjan clusters as a sister group to the African Pimpinella species. The EO did not exhibit an apparent antimicrobial activity.
Highlights
Pimpinella is a member of the family Apiaceae and comprises approximately 200 species occurring in Europe, Asia, and some species in Africa [1,2,3]
We investigated the composition of the essential oil (EO)
The phylogeny of P. pruatjan was reconstructed using nucleotide sequences of the nuclear DNA marker ITS which is widely used in plants
Summary
Pimpinella is a member of the family Apiaceae and comprises approximately 200 species occurring in Europe, Asia, and some species in Africa [1,2,3]. We examined the essential oils from the aerial part to investigate whether the oils possess antimicrobial activity as can be seen in other Pimpinella species. The genus Pimpinella is known for its essential oils (EOs) [2,9,10,11]. The oils from Pimpinella species growing across Europe and Asia usually consist of monoterpenes (such as limonene, sabinene, α-pinene, β-pinene, γ-terpinene), norsesquiterpenes (geijerene, pregeijerene), sesquiterpenes. The presence of pseudoisoeugenol is an important chemosystematic character in the genus of Pimpinella and most likely contributes to the antimicrobial activity of the EOs [2,15]. The EO from aerial parts of P. pruatjan has not been studied before nor its chemical composition and the phylogenetic position within the genus Pimpinella. The phylogeny of P. pruatjan was reconstructed using nucleotide sequences of the nuclear DNA marker ITS which is widely used in plants
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