Fatty acid composition of two Athamanta turbith subspecies

Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of the Athamanta turbith ssp. haynaldii Volatiles

The fresh aerial parts of essential oils and headspace volatiles of two populations of Athamanta turbith ssp. haynaldii were analyzed in detail by GC and GC/MS analyses. In headspace samples, 32 compounds were identified, representing 98.4% and 98.8% of the total volatiles and were dominated by hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes, representing over 60% of both. Germacrene D was the major component, followed by terpinolene and myristicin. The essential oils of A. turbith consisted mainly of phenylpropene compounds with myristicin being the major compound. Fifty two compounds were identified in the oil isolated from Perućac and 57 from Kremna, accounting for 99.0% and 99.6% of total detectable components, with myristicin (52.3% and 50.8%, respectively) being the major component. In both samples, myristicin, germacrene D and δ-cadinene make up over 78% of the total oil composition. Antioxidant activity was measured using four different assays: DPPH, ABTS, CUPRAC and TRP method. It was found that the essential oil showed low antioxidant capacities compared with standard antioxidant compounds.

Evaluation of oil content and fatty acid composition of five endemic Bupleurum species growing in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey

The fatty acid composition of five endemic Bupleurum (Apiaceae) species was analysed by GC technique for their nutritional value. The amount of oil content of the species varied from 3.77% to 7.03%. Twenty-one fatty acids were identified in the oils. The fatty acid composition of the studied species contained oleic, palmitic and linoleic acids as the major components. Oleic acid ranged from 8.81% to 68.30%, while the levels of palmitic acid were found to be between 12.47% and 47.85%. Bupleurum lycaonicum, Bupleurum sulphureum and Bupleurum heldreichii are very good sources of oleic acid. The remaining species were characterised as containing the highest level of palmitic acid. In this study, the total saturated fatty acids ranged between 15.02 and 65.20%, while total monounsaturated fatty acids were between 18.10 and 70.65%. The total polyunsaturated fatty acid accounted for 13.47-35.20% of the studied fatty acids. Therefore, we can conclude that Bupleurum oils have a significant nutritional value.