Essential Oil from Zanthoxylum hyemale

Abstract

The essential oils from aerial parts of young (sample A) and mature leaves (sample B), fruit (sample C), and flowers (sample D) of Zanthoxylum hyemale were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC, GC/MS, and chiral phase gas chromatography (CPGC). Thirty-four compounds were identified from the essential oils, representing approximately 90.71, 91.19, 87.33, and 89.08 % of the oils, respectively. The major constituent of the young leaf essential oil was the sesquiterpene trans-nerolidol (51 %), while the main constituent of mature leaf (31 %) and flower oils (22 %) was an as yet unknown humulane-type sesquiterpenoid, which was characterized by spectral techniques (EI-MS and 1D-, 2D-NMR) as 3,7,10,10-tetramethylcycloundeca-3,7-dien-1-ol (1) and given the trivial name ”hyemalol”. In the fruit essential oil, the most abundant components were the monoterpenes β-pinene (25 %) and α-pinene (10 %). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils and some isolated compounds is also reported.

Key words

Zanthoxylum hyemale - Rutaceae - essential oils - hyemalol - antimicrobial activity

References

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