Medicinal used plants from India : analysis of the essential oils of Sphaeranthus indicus flowers , roots and stems with leaves

The essential oils of flowers, roots and herb (stems with leaves) of Sphaeranthus indicus Kurz. (Asteraceae) from southern India were investigated by gas chromatographic-spectroscopic (GC-FID and GC-MS) and olfactoric methods to identify those compounds responsible for the characteristic odor as well as partly for the folk medicinal use of this plant. More than 95 volatiles were found to be constituents of the three essential S. indicus oils with following composition of main components: flower oil: Peudesmol (21.4%), 2,5-dimethoxy-p-cymene (16.2%), P-caryophyllene (7.8%), r-cadinol (7.2%). caryophyllene oxide (6.9%) and a-eudesmol (4.5%); root oil: 2,5-dimethoxy-pcymene (28.3%), r-cadinol (25.3%), (2)-arteannuic alcohol (1 0.1 %), p-maaliene (3.9%) and caryophyllene oxide (3.1%); herb oil: 2,5-dimethoxy-p-cymene (27.0%), r-cadinol (12.5%), P-eudesmol (9.1 %), a-eudesmol (7.0%) and caroyphyllene oxide (4.7%). In addition, the odor impressions of the samples are described and the possible use of the essential Sphaeranthus indicus oils in medicinal, cosmetic and food flavoring discussed. Key Word Index: Sphaeranthus indicus, Asteraceae, essential oils, flowers, roots, herb, odor, Indian folk medicine Introduction: Sphaeranthu.~ indiczrs Kurz. (Asteraceae) is an important plant, used in Indian folk medicine especially for its antiseptic, antitussive and tonic effects14. While various solvent extracts were investigated for their biological active compounds (mainly sesquiterpenoids)"'f the essential oils of S indicus plants and/or plant pans were studied very rarely 1.2. I I . I 2 252 L. J i r o v e t z et al.: In continuation of our scientific work on analysis of essential oils used in traditional Indian medicine, also this research project was started to identify the volatiles of essential oils of different plant parts (flowers, roots and herb) of Sphaeranthus indicus and to discuss the constituents responsible for the characteristic aroma of these oils, their possible biological effects as well as applications in perfumery and cosmetics. To the best of our knowledge, no data on the composition of essential S. indicus oils from southern India are available until now. Experimental: Plant Material: The plants of Sphaeranthus indicus were collected on the Calicut University campus (Paddy field) in May 2000 and the plant material was identified by Dr.A.K. Pradeep, Department of Botany, Calicut University of Kerala. A voucher specimen is deposited in the specially maintained Herbarium of the Department of Chemistry at Calicut University (voucher-no. 35). The flowers, roots and herb of S. indicus were separated from the plant manually and dried at room-temperature for 14 days. After this, the three plant parts were powdered using an electric grinder each. The weights of powdered products were as follows: flowers: 650 g, roots: 250 g, herb: 1000 g. Essential Oil Extractions: The powdered S. indicus flowers, roots and herb were taken into a 10 L Erlenmeyer-flask and then 5 L of water was added, before steam-distillation for 3.5 hours each. The essential oils were extracted with diethyl ether as solvent and dried over anhydrous sodium phosphate. Yields were found to be 0.3 1 g (0.05%) of an orange coloured essential flower oil, 0.30 g (0.12%) of a pale-yellow root oil and 0.44 (0.04%) g of a red-

Introduction: Sphaeranthu.~indiczrs Kurz.(Asteraceae) is an important plant, used in Indian folk medicine especially for its antiseptic, antitussive and tonic effects14.While various solvent extracts were investigated for their biological active compounds (mainly sesquiterpenoids)"'f the essential oils of S indicus plants and/or plant pans were studied very rarely 1.2.I I .I 2 In continuation of our scientific work on analysis of essential oils used in traditional Indian medicine, also this research project was started to identify the volatiles of essential oils of different plant parts (flowers, roots and herb) of Sphaeranthus indicus and to discuss the constituents responsible for the characteristic aroma of these oils, their possible biological effects as well as applications in perfumery and cosmetics.To the best of our knowledge, no data on the composition of essential S. indicus oils from southern India are available until now.manually and dried at room-temperature for 14 days.After this, the three plant parts were powdered using an electric grinder each.The weights of powdered products were as follows: flowers: 650 g, roots: 250 g, herb: 1000 g.

Essential Oil Extractions:
The powdered S. indicus flowers, roots and herb were taken into a 10 L Erlenmeyer-flask and then 5 L of water was added, before steam-distillation for 3.5 hours each.The essential oils were extracted with diethyl ether as solvent and dried over anhydrous sodium phosphate.Yields were found to be 0.3 1 g (0.05%) of an orange coloured essential flower oil, 0.30 g (0.12%) of a pale-yellow root oil and 0.44 (0.04%) g of a redorange herb oil.

Olfactoric evaluations:
The essential oils were diluted with dichloromethane, lop1 placed on a commercial odor-strip (Dragoco Co.) and the odor characterized by professional perfumers.
For compound identifications Wiley-, NBSand NIST-library spectra (on-line) as well as reference MS-spectra data'5317'25 were used.
An medicinal use of these essential S. indicus oils seems to be only possible as an antimicrobial medicament3';" for external application, because toxic effects and side-effects of the mainly sesquiterpenic constituents of the oils which are investigated very rarely until now.The same objection must be done on cosmetic applications as well as for the flavoring of food products.
In summary, the essential oils of the flowers, roots and herb of Sphaeranthus indicus from southern India possess a very characteristic odor, showing some uncommon monoterpenes, such as 2,5-dimethoxy-p-cymene, and sesquiterpenes, such as arteannuic alcohols and eudesmols as main compounds.These constituents as well as further lower alcohols and mono-and sesquiterpenes are responsible for the odor impressions.A possible use of these oils as medicaments, in cosmetic andlor food products can be discussed again, after extensive investigations of the toxic potential of these identified sesquiterpenic components.

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Plant Material: The plants of Sphaeranthus indicus were collected on the Calicut University campus (Paddy field) in May 2000 and the plant material was identified by Dr.A.K. Pradeep, Department of Botany, Calicut University of Kerala.A voucher specimen is deposited in the specially maintained Herbarium of the Department of Chemistry at Calicut University (voucher-no.35).The flowers, roots and herb of S. indicus were separated from the plant