| Title: | Chemical Composition of Essential Oil from Four Sympatric Orchids in NW-Italy |
| Author(s): | Robustelli Della Cuna FS; Cortis P; Esposito F; De Agostini A; Sottani C; Sanna C; |
| Address: | "Department of Drug Sciences, University of Pavia, Viale Taramelli 12, 27100 Pavia, Italy. Casimiro Mondino National Neurological Institute, Via Mondino 2, 27100 Pavia, Italy. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Via S. Ignazio da Laconi 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy. Agroecology Lab, Universite libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. Environmental Research Center, ICS MAUGERI SPA SB, Institute of Pavia, IRCCS, 27100 Pavia, Italy. Co. S. Me. Se-Consorzio per lo Studio dei Metaboliti Secondari, Via Sant'Ignazio da Laconi 13, 09123 Cagliari, Italy" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2223-7747 (Print) 2223-7747 (Electronic) 2223-7747 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Orchidaceae is a flowering plant family worldwide distributed known for producing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can act as olfactory signals for pollinators. Despite the importance of VOCs in the different reproductive strategies, in the literature there are only a few publications on the characterization of orchids' volatile profiles. In this study, the essential oils from fresh inflorescences of sympatric orchids Anacamptis morio, Himantoglossum robertianum, Ophrys sphegodes and Orchis purpurea, naturally growing in Piedmont (Italy) were isolated by steam distillation and characterized by GC/FID and GC/MS. A number of compounds were identified, with a peculiar distribution in the species: alcohols (range 16.93-50.60%), from which p-cresol (range 12.75-38.10%) was the most representative compound; saturated hydrocarbons (range 5.81-59.29%), represented by pentacosane (range 2.22-40.17%) and tricosane (range 0.78-27.48%); long-chain monounsaturated hydrocarbons (range 0.29-5.20%) represented by 9-pentacosene, 11-tricosene, and 1-heneicosene. The structure of positional isomers in linear alkenes was elucidated by derivatization with dimethyl disulfide and MS fragmentation patterns. Coumarin (68.84%) was the dominant compound in O. purpurea and was detected in lower concentrations (range 0.21-0.26%) in the other taxa. These volatile compounds may represent a particular feature of these plant species and play an essential role in pollinator interaction" |
| Keywords: | Anacamptis morio Himantoglossum robertianum Ophrys sphegodes Orchis purpurea alkenes coumarin essential oil p-cresol pollinators; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINERobustelli Della Cuna, Francesco Saverio Cortis, Pierluigi Esposito, Fabiana De Agostini, Antonio Sottani, Cristina Sanna, Cinzia eng Switzerland 2022/03/27 Plants (Basel). 2022 Mar 20; 11(6):826. doi: 10.3390/plants11060826" |
