Schinus molle L. Collected from Jordan and Turkey: Essential Oil Composition and Anticholinesterase Activity

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine the composition of the hydro-distilled essential oil of Schinus molle L. (Anacardiaceae) fruits, leaves and flowers grown in Ghor-Jordan (75 mm total precipitation per year) and Izmir-Turkey (725 mm total precipitation per year) by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass-spectrometry(GC/MS) and to report the actual composition of the emitted volatile substances from the different organs using solid phase micro-extraction (SPME). This is the first description of the aroma profile of S. molle grown in two different regions. Despite quantitative differences α-phellandrene was detected as the major volatile component in all studied samples. Limonene, the second major component in all samples from Turkey was absent in the oils from Jordan; instead β-phellandrene was detected as the second major component of the hydro-distilled oils of fresh and dry fruits’, leaves’ and flowers’ oils from Jordan. The fruits obtained from the dry desert regions of Jordan yielded about 8-fold more volatile oils, compared to the fruits of S. molle grown in Turkey (2.5 ml and 0.3 ml/100 g fresh plants, respectively). Additionally, the essential oil, water, ethylacetate and chloroform extracts of S. molle, grown in Jordan were assayed for their inhibitory effect against acetyl-cholinesterase (AChE) and butyryl-cholinesterase (BChE). Most of the extracts revealed moderate to strong inhibitory activities and the chloroform extract showed the strongest inhibitory activity against both, AChE and BChE with IC50’s of 6.54 x 10-2± 0.15 x 10-2 and 8.13 x 10-2± 0. 27 x 10-2 μg/μL, respectively, compared to Tacrine, the positive control.