The essential oil composition of devil's club, Oplopanax horridus J. E. Smith Miq.

Abstract

Devil's club has been used in folk medicine by the native tribes of Alaska and British Columbia for centuries for the treatment of colds, fever, burns, stomach troubles and even tuberculosis. 4,5 ExperimentalStems and roots of O. horridus were collected from the same plant stands on 30 December 2002 near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, at about 200 -300 m altitude. A voucher specimen (no. V219467) was deposited at the Herbarium of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Both oils, the one from the stem and the one from the root, were obtained by steam distillation using a low pressure system with an external steam source. The duration of each distillation was approximately 1 h.The essential oils were analysed by GC on a gas chromatograph Hewlett-Packard 5890 (FID detector) equipped with a polar Supelcowax 10 column and a nonpolar DB-5 column (30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm). Analyses by GC/MS were performed on a Hewlett-Packard mass spectrometer 5972 at 70 eV coupled to an HP 5890 gas chromatograph using a DB-5 and a Supelcowax 10 column (same as above). The temperature program, used for both GC and GC/MS analyses, was 40°C for 2 min, then 2°C/min to 210°C and held constant for 33 min. The identification of the components was done by comparison of their retention indices with standards and by comparison of their mass spectra with literature values 6 and with our data bank.

Chemical and pharmacological studies of Oplopanax horridus, a North American botanical

“…It was observed that the main constituent in both the stem and root essential oils was nerolidol with over 50% of the oil being composed of this compound, a finding corroborated by a number of studies [19, 23, 24]. Another study examined the volatile oil from the leaves of OH, and the results showed that 2-methyl-6-p-methylbenzene-2-heptene (34.4%) and phytol (8.13%) are the main constituents among a chromatogram with forty-five peaks [25].…”

High performance liquid chromatographic analysis and anticancer potential of Oplopanax horridus: Comparison of stem and berry extracts

“…Five polyynes were isolated from O. horridus : falcarinol; falcarindiol; oplopandiol; oplopandiol acetate; 9,17-octadecadiene-12,14-diyne-1,11,16-triol 1-acetate [9]. Based on GC/MS techniques, the composition of the essential oil of devil’s club was studied, and (E)-nerolidol was found to be the major constituent in both the stems (54.5%) and the roots (54.6%) [36]. …”

Inhibition of human ovarian cancer cell lines by Devil's club Oplopanax horridus

“…However, comparison with the chromatographic profile presented is difficult because of instrumentation, column, and mobile phase differences. In addition, Garneau et al (2006) identified a number of essential oils in both the stem and root and found that nerolidol comprised more than 50% of both extracts. In our chromatographic profile the peak at 39.5 min was confirmed as nerolidol by both retention time and mass spectral information using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.…”