Essential oil composition of Pinus heldreichii Christ., P. peuce Griseb., and P. mugo Turra as a function of hydrodistillation time and evaluation of its antimicrobial activity

Authors: SEMERDJIEVA, IVANKA - Agricultural University Of Bulgaria; RADOUKOVA, TZENKA - Plovdiv University; Cantrell, Charles; ASTATKIE, TESS - Dalhousie University; KACANLOVA, MIROSLAVA - University Of Rzeszow; BORISOVA, DANIELA - Vrachanski Balkan; ZHELJAZKOV, VALTCHO - Oregon State University

Submitted to: Industrial Crops and Products
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/2/2022
Publication Date: 8/5/2022
Citation: Semerdjieva, I.B., Radoukova, T., Cantrell, C.L., Astatkie, T., Kacanlova, M., Borisova, D., Zheljazkov, V.D. 2022. Essential oil composition of Pinus heldreichii Christ., P. peuce Griseb., and P. mugo Turra as a function of hydrodistillation time and evaluation of its antimicrobial activity. Industrial Crops and Products. 187(Part B). Article 115484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2022.115484.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2022.115484

Interpretive Summary: Pinus L. is the largest genus in the Pinaceae comprising over 100 conifers distributed in the northern hemisphere. Six of them can be found in Bulgaria. Pinus species are economically important as a source of wood, paper, resins, charcoal, essential oils (EO), food, etc. Due to the limited distribution of P. peuce and P. heldreichii and the disjunctive distribution of P. mugo, there are only a few studies on their phytochemical composition. There is no previous comprehensive study on the effect of distillation times of P. mugo, P. peuce and P. heldreichii. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of distillation time on the quantitative and qualitative composition of EO of P. mugo, P. peuce and P. heldreichii distributed in Bulgaria as a potential for obtaining EO with a specific composition. The obtained results for EO of the three studied species are a prerequisite for obtaining EO with a certain, desired composition while reducing the distillation duration and saving energy and time. The tested EOs demonstrated very good antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli.

Technical Abstract: Pinus peuce and P. heldrejchii are Balkan ednemics, Tertiary relicts, while Pinus mugo is an edificator in the phytocenoses in the Alpine mountain range. The chemical profile and essential oil (EO) yield of these three species and composition as a function of distillation time (DT) was the subject of this study. The working hypothesis was that EO of P. mugo, P. heldreichii and P. peuce would have a different composition at different distillation time (DT). In the interval 0-15 minutes from the distillation, up to 70% of the total EO was extracted in P. heldreichii, 53.85% for P. peuce and 54.63% for P. mugo. In the different DTs, the EO of the three species had relatively constant compositional profile, which contradicts the working hypothesis. Most of the quantitative differences in the main components were determined. The EO obtained from the DT interval 0-15 minutes had the following major compounds: a-pinene (16.48%-17.84%), a-phellandrene (23.06-23.76%), and ß-phellandrene (28.12%-28.79%) in P. mugo; a-'inene (34.26% - 43.75%), limonene (19.2%-22.2%), and ß-'inene (9.24%-11.48%) in P. peuce and limonene (76.9%-77.0%) and a-pinene (12.47%-15.54%) in P. heldreichii. The obtained results for EO of the three studied species are a prerequisite for obtaining EO with a certain, desired composition while reducing the distillation duration and saving energy and time. The tested EOs demonstrated very good antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli.