Unveiling the Phytochemical Profile and Biological Potential of Five Artemisia Species

Abstract

The Artemisia L. genus comprises over 500 species with important medicinal and economic attributes. Our study aimed at providing a comprehensive metabolite profiling and bioactivity assessment of five Artemisia species collected from northeastern Romania (A. absinthium L., A. annua L., A. austriaca Jacq., A. pontica L. and A. vulgaris L.). Liquid chromatography–tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) analysis of methanol and chloroform extracts obtained from the roots and aerial parts of the plants led to the identification of 15 phenolic acids (mostly hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives), 26 flavonoids (poly-hydroxylated/poly-methoxylated flavone derivatives, present only in the aerial parts), 14 sesquiterpene lactones, 3 coumarins, 1 lignan and 7 fatty acids. Clustered image map (CIM) analysis of the phytochemical profiles revealed that A. annua was similar to A. absinthium and that A. pontica was similar to A. austriaca, whereas A. vulgaris represented a cluster of its own. Correlated with their total phenolic contents, the methanol extracts from both parts of the plants showed the highest antioxidant effects, as assessed by the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging, CUPRAC, FRAP and total antioxidant capacity methods. Artemisia extracts proved to be promising sources of enzyme inhibitory agents, with the methanol aerial part extracts being the most active samples against acetylcholinesterase and glucosidase. All Artemisia samples displayed good antibacterial effects against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra, with MIC values of 64–256 mg/L. In conclusion, the investigated Artemisia species proved to be rich sources of bioactives endowed with antioxidant, enzyme inhibitory and anti-mycobacterial properties.

Bridging the Chemical Profiles and Biological Effects of Spathodea campanulata Extracts: A New Contribution on the Road from Natural Treasure to Pharmacy Shelves

“…In terms of flavones, four compounds were identified in the leaf methanolic and infusion extracts. By comparing their retention time and fragmentation behaviour with the available literature data, compound 54 was assigned as apigenin; 51 as luteolin; compound 29 , eluted in 23.924 min, as luteolin- O -hexoside; and compound 55 as tetrahydroxyflavone, due to insufficient data [ 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”

“…The liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF-MS) analysis of the methanolic and aqueous extracts obtained from the leaves and stem bark of S. campanulata was carried out on an Agilent 1200 HPLC system (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) coupled to an ESI-Q-TOF mass spectrometer (Agilent Technologies). The analytical procedure was reported in our earlier paper [ 38 ]. Compounds were tentatively identified based on the obtained fragmentation patterns, which were compared with spectral information available in databases and the scientific literature.…”

Exploring the Artemisia Genus: An Insight into the Phytochemical and Multi-Biological Potential of A. campestris subsp. lednicensis (Spreng.) Greuter & Raab-Straube

“…The annotation of the peaks was assessed by a comparison of the spectral and chromatography data with the literature [ 18 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ] and databases (KNApSAcK, METLIN, NIST, etc.). Thus, 21 specialized metabolites from various phytochemical groups (phenolic acids, coumarins, flavonoids, sesquiterpenes, fatty acids, and lignans) were fully or partly ascribed ( Table 2 , Figure 2 ).…”

“…Finally, diosmetin ( 17) , [M–H] – at m/z 299.0566) was indicated by the presence of a single methoxygroup with the characteristic MS/MS fragment ion at m/z 284.0259 [M–CH 3 ] – ; all the remaining fragments confirmed the flavone structure [ 29 ]. The high abundance of poly-hydroxylated/poly-methoxylated flavone is specific to Artemisia species and can have chemotaxonomical importance [ 18 ]. All of these phytochemicals have been previously reported in A. annua , A. austriaca , A. pontica , A. vulgaris , or A. absinthium [ 18 ].…”

“…In our endeavor to promote interest in the Romanian Artemisia species [ 18 ], we report herein for the first time on the metabolite and biological profile of A. campestris subsp. lednicensis aerial parts.…”