Composition of the Essential Oil of Aulacospermum anomalum Ledeb. from Kazakhstan

Asian countries with the greatest biodiversity of Umbelliferae are in China, Turkey (As.), Iran, Russia (As.) and Kazakhstan. About 430 species are known from Central Asia and Kazakhstan [1,2]. The aim of the present study was the investigation of the chemical composition of the essential oil of Aulacospermum anomalum Ledeb. (Apiaceae) from Kazakhstan by GC/FID and GC/MS methods. The plant material was collected during its blossoming stage in June, 2009, on the Karkaraly mountains of the Central Kazakhstan. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation of the dried herb using a Clevenger type apparatus. The oil yield calculated on moisture free basis was 0.32%.

Gas-chromatographic – mass spectrometric analysis revealed that the oil was rich in sesquiterpenes with germacrene D (22.7%), beta-elemene (13.2%) bicyclogermacrene (3.2%) and beta-caryophyllene (3.1%) identified as the major representatives. Monoterpenes were represented by 1,8-cineole (11.5%), beta-pinene (6.1%), myrcene (5.2%) and sabinene (2.6%) as the major constituents. This is the first report on the essential oil composition of this species. Acknowledgements: Authors are gratefully thanks to Zhezkazgan Botanical Garden for providing of plant material. References: [1] Pavlov NV, (1961) Flora of Kazakhstan [in Russian], Alma-Ata 6: 312. [2]. Pimenov MG, Leonov MV, (2004) Turk J Bot 28: 139–145.