Determination of Essential Oil Composition, and Screening of Secondary Metabolites in Eryngium creticum Lam. Spread in Syria

Abstract

Eryngium creticum is widespread in Syria as it grows in variant environments: mountains, semidesert and saline environments. And it has a wide range of Biological and Pharmacological Activities as well as diverse traditional uses, and since knowledge of the chemical constituents of plants has medical and economical importance, especially essential oils, our study aimed to screen the secondary metabolites of E. creticum, and to determine its essential oil composition. Qualitative detection of most important plant secondary metabolites was conducted, and the results of our study showed that the plant contains flavonoids and coumarins, and absence of saponins, tannins, alkaloids, and anthraquinones, and positivity of detection reactions of cardiac glycosides but it is likely to be false positivity. The essential oil of aerial parts of E. creticum was recovered by Hydrodistillation and the yield was 0.1 % V/W, and analyzed by Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS), 62 compounds were identified with Falcarinol having the highest percentage (13.5 %), then alpha-Farnesene with percentage of (11.9 %), and Spathulenol (+) with percentage of (11.5 %). With sesquiterpenes and their oxygenated derivatives having the highest percentage of compounds. These results show that E. creticum is a source of some groups of plant secondary metabolites, and it contains an essential oil rich in volatile compounds with a wide range of activities.