Identification of Volatile Constituents in Flowers and Leaves of Trifolium repens L.

Abstract

The chemical composition of the volatile components obtained by two different methods (SDE, HS-SPME) from flowers and leaves of Trifolium repens L. grown in Poland was determined by GC and GC/MS. Depending on the isolation method used, 75 compounds (71–80% of the oils) contained in the flowers and 63 compounds (80–82%) derived from the leaves were respectively identified. The principal volatile constituents in the SDE extract from the flowers were hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (6.2%), 4-vinylguaiacol (4.5%), (E)-2-heptenal (3.0%) and 2-phenylethanol (3.0%), whereas in the SPME were 1-octen-3-ol (10.6%), 2-phenylethanol (7.3%), linalool (5.5%), benzaldehyde (4.6%) and (E)-2-heptenal (3.8%). The most abundant volatile constituents detected in the SDE extract from the leaves were 1-octen-3-ol (15.1%), (E)-2-hexenal (9.3%), (E)-2-heptenal (6.1%), 4-vinylguaiacol (4.1%) and carvone (3.4%), whereas in the SPME were 1-octen-3-ol (17.7%), carvone (10.7%), limonene (8.5%), (E)-β-ionone (5.9%), 2-phenylethanol (5.1%) and β-ionone epoxide (4.4%).