The role of mass spectrometry in medicinal plant research

Abstract

In phytochemical and chemotaxonomic research work mass spectrometry plays an outstandingly important role. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) we established the chemotaxa of Tanacetum vulgare L. Chemotypes with essential oils countaining 60–90% of artemisia ketone, carveol, dihydrocarvone, myrtenol, umbellulone, terpinen‐4‐ol, davanone, and Tagetes species containing various essential oils can be clearly distinguished by their spectra; we examined many variations of Tagetes erecta, T. lucida, T. minuta, T. patula and T. tenuifolia. We have identified α‐β‐pinene‐, 1,8‐cineol‐, linalool‐, camphor‐, nerol‐, geraniol‐ and γ‐gurjonene as components of Achillea distans L. Injecting the essential oil direct from the oil‐secreting organs of T. minuta plants we identified using GC/MS 6–10 and 16% eugenol from the involucral bract and hypsophyll, respectively, as well as β‐ocimene, dihydrotagetone, tagetone, Z‐ and E‐ocimenones. In the course of studies on essential fatty acids Borago officinalis and Lappula squarrosa were selected from 70 species of the family Boraginaceae to obtain seed oil as a source of γ‐linolenic acid, and for the PG synthesis we isolated several grams of γ‐linolenic acid, as well as C_18:4, i e. octadecatetraenic acid, from L. squarrosa on the basis of the mass spectra. From the seed oil of Aquilegia vulgaris C_18:3 (5) from the oil of Limnanthes dougloasii C_20:1 (5) and from the seed oils of Delphinium consolida and of Tropaeolum species (T. majus, T. minus, T. peregrinum) C_20:1 (11) fatty acids were identified on the basis of spectra.