Essential oil composition and polar fraction analysis of Tanacetum macrophyllum (Waldst. et Kit.) Schultz Bip.

Tanacetum macrophyllum (Waldst. et Kit.) Schultz Bip, also known as Tansy, is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. This species is typical of the Balcan area but is punctually spread in other European countries as a rare species [1]. In Italy, it is found mainly within forests [1, 2]. This species is often erroneously confused with Achillea grandifolia Friv. [1, 2]. In this work, a comprehensive phytochemical analysis on the volatile components and polar fraction of T. macrophyllum growing in central Italy was carried out. Flowers and leaves were separately analyzed for the essential oil composition and were characterized by oxygenated monoterpenes (39.4%) and oxygenated sesquiterpenes (28.0%) and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (39.3%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (25.4%), respectively. The phytochemical analysis conducted on the ethanolic extract of the total aerial parts evidenced the presence of twelve compounds: apigenin, cirsimaritin, apigenin-7-O-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-glucuronide, kaempferol-7-O-glucoside, kaempferol-7-O-glucuronide, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, chlorogenic acid, shikimic acid, quinic acid and 4-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-vanillic acid. Most of these compounds were reported for the first time in the species while three of them are new phytochemicals for the Tanacetum genus. The presence of all these compounds provides a phytochemical rationale for the botanical classification of this species and encourages further ethno-pharmacological studies just like for T. parthenium [3].

[1] Pignatti S. Flora d'Italia. Bologna, (Italy): Edagricole; 1982, 3, 99.

[2] Cerutti GV, Motta A. Inf Bot Ital 2011; 43: 148.

[3] Pareek A, Suthar M, Rathore GS, Bansal V. Pharmacog Rev 2011; 5: 103 – 110.