Essential Oils in the Ranunculaceae Family: Chemical Composition of Hydrodistilled Oils from Consolida regalis, Delphinium elatum, Nigella hispanica, and N. nigellastrum Seeds

Abstract

In this study, we analyzed the chemical composition of volatile oils hydrodistilled from seeds of Consolida regalis, Delphinium elatum, Nigella hispanica, and N. nigellastrum using GC and GC/MS. In C. regalis, octadecenoic (77.79%) and hexadecanoic acid (8.34%) were the main constituents. Similarly, the oils from D. elatum and N. hispanica seeds consisted chiefly of octadecadienoic (42.83 and 35.58%, resp.), hexadecanoic (23.87 and 28.59%, resp.), and octadecenoic acid (21.67 and 19.76%, resp.). Contrastingly, the monoterpene hydrocarbons α-pinene (34.67%) and β-pinene (36.42%) were the main components of N. nigellastrum essential oil. Our results confirm the presence of essential oils in the family Ranunculaceae and suggest chemotaxonomical relationships within the representatives of the genera Consolida, Delphinium, and Nigella. In addition, the presence of various bioactive constituents such as linoleic acid, (-)-β-pinene, squalene, or carotol in seeds of D. elatum, N. hispanica, and N. nigellastrum indicates a possible industrial use of these plants.

A systematic review on the chemical constituents of the genus Consolida (Ranunculaceae) and their biological activities

“…FAs are the major constituents of the oils from Consolida plants; for example, FA components are 87.16% of the seed oils of C. regalis. 73 It has also been found that oleic acid (158), with a carbon chain length (CCL) of 18 : 1, is the most dominant FA in all studied Consolida plants (more than 50% of the total FAs), namely, C. regalis, C. orientalis, C. armeniaca, C. glandulosa and C. hohenackeri (Fig. 8).…”

“…8). [73][74][75][76] Consolida plants also contain certain amounts of linoleic (159), eicosenoic (160), and palmitic (161) acids, whereas other FAs are almost negligible.…”

The Essential Oil Constituents ofRanunculus marginatusd'Urv. var.trachycarpus(Fisch. & Mey.), From Turkey

“…Therefore α-terpinyl acetate has not earlier been reported in the essential oil of R. arvensis, R. constantinapolitanus and R. kochii 29,30 . In previous studies involving the essential oils of Ranunculaceae plants, α-terpinyl acetate has not been found in the essential oils from Consolida regalis, Delphinium elatum, Nigella hispanica and N. nigellastrum 47 .…”

Diterpenoid Alkaloids from Delphinium ajacis and Their Anti-RSV Activities

“…As a traditional Chinese medicine, the roots of D. ajacis are applied to treat stomachache, and the seeds are used to treat edema and asthma [2]. Previous phytochemical investigations have shown that the genus Delphinium is rich in alkaloids [3,4], flavonoids [5], and fatty acids [6]. Modern pharmacological studies have displayed that the diterpenoid alkaloids of the genus Delphinium possess cytotoxic [7,8] and antifungal [9] activities.…”

“…1) and seven known ones (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) were isolated from D. ajacis. Their structures were elucidated as ajacisine A (1), ajacisine B (2), ajacisine C (3), ajacisine D (4), ajacisine E (5), anthranoyllycoc-tonine (6) [10], delectine (7) [11], isodelectine (8) [12], lycoctonine (9) [13], delcosine (10) [14], β-carboline (11) [15], and methyl-N-(3-carboxy-3-methylpropanoyl)anthranilate (12) [16], respectively, by the analysis of their spectroscopic data and comparison with related literatures. Moreover, compounds 1-12 were evaluated for antiviral activities against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by using the cytopathic effect (CPE) reduction assay.…”