Volatile components of horsetail (<i>Hippuris vulgaris</i> L.) growing in central Italy

<p><i>Hippuris vulgaris</i>, also known as horsetail or marestail, is a freshwater macrophyte occurring in lakes, rivers, ponds and marshes. According to ‘The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species’, <i>H. vulgaris</i> is at a high risk of extinction in Italy in the medium-term future. In the present study, we analysed for the first time the volatile composition of <i>H. vulgaris</i> growing in central Italy. For the purpose, the essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC-MS. The chemical composition was dominated by aliphatic compounds such as fatty acids (26.0%), ketones (18.7%) and alkanes (11.4%), whereas terpenoids were poorer and mostly represented by diterpenes (7.4%). <i>n</i>-Hexadecanoic acid (25.5%), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (17.5%) and <i>trans</i>-phytol (7.4%) were the major volatile constituents. These compounds are here proposed as chemotaxonomic markers of the species.</p

Isofuranodiene is the main volatile constituent of <i>Smyrnium perfoliatum</i> L. subsp. <i>perfoliatum</i> growing in central Italy

<div><p>The essential oil hydrodistilled from the aerial parts of <i>Smyrnium perfoliatum</i> subsp. <i>perfoliatum</i> growing in central Italy was analysed by GC-MS. The main peak in the gas chromatogram was given by the furanosesquiterpene curzerene which is the Cope rearrangement product of isofuranodiene formed into injector and column during the gas chromatographic run. A truthful quantification of these compounds was achieved by HPLC-DAD analysis which showed that isofuranodiene is the main volatile component (180.0 mg/g eo) of <i>S. perfoliatum</i> subsp. <i>perfoliatum</i>, while curzerene occurs in small amounts (18.1 mg/g eo).</p></div

Essential oil composition and biological activity from <i>Artemisia caerulescens</i> subsp. <i>densiflora</i> (Viv.) Gamisans ex Kerguélen & Lambinon (Asteraceae), an endemic species in the habitat of La Maddalena Archipelago

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the composition of the essential oil obtained from a population of <i>Artemisia caerulescens</i> subsp. <i>densiflora</i> growing in Razzoli, an island in the La Maddalena Archipelago (Sardinia, Italy). <i>A. caerulescens</i> sups. <i>densiflora</i> Viv. (Asteraceae), a wild herb, seldom studied in the Mediterranean, represents one of the many rare endemic species growing in North Sardinia. The essential oil composition was analysed by means of GC/MS analysis, which showed davana ethers as the major volatile components, accounting together for 17.5%, followed by (E)-nerolidol (4.5%), <i>β</i>-oplopenone (3.3%), cis-sabinene hydrate (5.2%) and terpinen-4-ol (4.7%). The oil was tested for antioxidant activity by means of DPPH test, inhibition of lipid oxidation test and hypochlorous acid test, which showed a quite interesting scavenger capacity. For the first time, we reported the cytotoxic activity of the essential oil of <i>A. caerulescens</i> subsp. densiflora, against three human tumour cell lines (A375, MDA-MB231 and HCT116), with IC₅₀ values in the range 5.20–7.61 μg/mL, which deserved further studies to support its use as chemopreventive agent. Finally, the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil, displayed on a panel of human pathogens, was very low.</p> <p><i>Artemisia caerulescens</i> subsp. <i>densiflora</i> (Viv.) Gamisans ex Kerguélen & Lambinon (Asteraceae)</p