Constituent composition of essential oil from Cornus mas flowers

Abstract

Cornus mas L. (Cornaceae Dumort) is a widely distributed but rather unstudied plant that grows wild in the countries of Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe in addition to the Caucases and Asia Minor, the Crimea in Ukraine, the western forest-steppe, the Transcarpathian and Carpathian regions, and the southeastern right-bank forest-steppe. Fruit of C. mas contains carbohydrates, phenolic compounds, organic acids, vitamins, and macro and trace elements; exhibits astringent, tonic, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activity; and improves metabolism [1–3]. We determined previously using GC–MS the volatile compounds in leaves of this plant [4]. The goal of the present work was to study essential oil from C. mas male flowers collected in April 2009 from plants cultivated in Kharkov and Simferopol Oblasts of Ukraine. The raw material was identified botanically based on voucher specimens stored at the herbarium of the Pharmacognosy Department, NPU. Samples for analysis were obtained from freshly collected raw material by steam distillation and subsequent work up of the distillate with hexane [4]. The yield of essential oil was 0.03%. The analysis used an Agilent Technology 6890N chromatograph with a 5973N mass-spectrometric detector. The analytical conditions included an HP-5MS (30 m 0.25 mm) quartz capillary chromatography column, He carrier gas, flow rate 1 mL/min, sample volume 0.1–0.5 L, sample injection with 1/50 flow division, 50°C thermostat temperature programmed at 4°C/min to 220°C, and 250°C detector and vaporizer temperature. Constituents of the essential oil were identified by comparing mass spectra of the products with data in the NIST02 mass-spectra library. Table 1 presents the results. A total of 47 constituents was detected in essential oil from C. mas flowers collected in Kharkov Oblast; 65, from those in Simferopol Oblast. Of these, 74 and 62%, respectively, of the constituents were identified. Monoterpenoids dominated essential oil from both samples. These included camphor, verbenone, borneol, -terpineol, -thujone, carvone, and 1,8-cineol. Aromatic compounds were represented by carvacrol and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol. Alkanes were also found. The composition and content of the oil constituents varied as a function of habitat.