Chemical Constituents of the Essential Oil, Static Headspace Analysis of Volatile Compounds, Polyphenolic Content and Antioxidative Capacity of <i>Trigonella elliptica</i> Boiss. Grown in Iran

Abstract

The volatile components at different organs of Trigonella elliptica Bois. were identified and analyzed by HS (headspace)-GC-MS on the Combi PAL System technique. The numbers of volatile compound identified in the flowering shoot, flowers and leaves were 11, 15 and 20, respectively. The main components of the flowering shoot were n-nonadecane (89.0 %), coumarin (5.1 %) and heptanal (1.6 %); in flowers were 5-methyl-heneicosane (43.5 %), p-cymen-9-ol (40.2 %) and p-cymen-8-ol (9.5 %); also in leaves were 4-methylene-isophorone (45.3 %), coumarin (25.5 %) and p-cymen-9-ol (11.3 %). The volatile components isolated by hydrodistillation were identified and analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Seventeen compounds were identified in the oil. The major volatile compounds of T. elliptica essential oils were coumarin (21.1 %), <3Z>-hexenyl benzoate (9.6 %), <3Z>-hexenol (9.2 %), α-trpinyl acetate (8.0 %), <3Z>-hexenyl isovalerate and myristicine (6.9 %). The antioxidant activity of the extract of T. elliptica was found to be 320 μg/ml. From 6 investigated polyphenols by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), the highest amount were caffeic acid (2.7 mg/g), coumarin (0.44 mg/g) and gallic acid (0.16 mg/g), respectively. T. elliptica could be a potent medicinal plant because of variability of chemical compounds at different organs.