Caryophyllene Oxide-rich Essential Oils of Lithuanian Artemisia campestris ssp. campestris and Their Toxicity

Asta Judzentiene (1) , Jurga Budiene (1) , Rita Butkiene , Eugenija Kupcinskiene (2) , Isabelle Laffont-Schwob (3) , Veronique Masotti (3)

1 Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemistry
2 VDU - Vytautas Magnus University - Vytauto Didziojo Universitetas
3 IMEP - Institut Méditerranéen d'Ecologie et de Paléoécologie

The chemical composition of the essential oils of aerial parts of Artemisia campestris ssp. campestris, collected from ten different locations in Lithuania is detailed in this paper. The major component in all the oils was caryophyllene oxide (8.5-38.8%), whereas compounds with the caryophyllane skeleton ranged from 10.2 to 44.5%. Other representative constituents were germacrene D (≤15.0%), humulene epoxide II (≤8.1%), β-ylangene (≤7.7%), spathulenol (≤6.8%), β-elemene (≤6.8%), β-caryophyllene (≤6.2%), junenol (≤6.1%) and α-or β-pinene (≤5.5%). Eighty-seven compounds were identified, comprising 73.6-92.3% of the oils. The chemical composition was highly variable depending on the sample location. Toxicity of A. campestris oils was determined using the brine shrimp (Artemia sp.) assay. LC 50 values ranging to 20 µg/mL were obtained for three of the oils after 24 hours of exposure. Data of this test revealed that A. campestris ssp. campestris essential oils with dominant caryophyllene oxide are notably toxic.

Keywords: β-ylangene; Artemisia campestris ssp campestris; Essential oil; Toxicity; Brine shrimp lethality test; β-caryophyllene; Caryophyllene oxide; Junenol; Humulene epoxide II; β-elemene

Domains: Chemical Sciences

Asta Judzentiene, Jurga Budiene, Rita Butkiene, Eugenija Kupcinskiene, Isabelle Laffont-Schwob, et al.. Caryophyllene Oxide-rich Essential Oils of Lithuanian Artemisia campestris ssp. campestris and Their Toxicity. Natural Product Communications , 2010, 5 (12), pp.1981 - 1984. ⟨hal-01926030⟩