A 'Low‐Level' Chemotaxonomic Analysis of the Plant Family Apiaceae: The Case of Scandix balansaeReut. ex Boiss. (Tribe Scandiceae). Issue 7 (12th July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Radulović, Niko S.; Mladenović, Marko Z.; Blagojević, Polina D.
• Is Part Of: Chemistry & biodiversity. Volume 10:Issue 7(2013:Jul.)
• Page Start: 1202
• Page End: 1219
• Publication Date: 2013-07-12
• Subjects: Biochemistry -- Periodicals; Molecular biology -- Periodicals; Biodiversity -- Periodicals; 572
• DOI: 10.1002/cbdv.201300106
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1612-1872

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Analyses by GC and GC/MS of an essential‐oil sample obtained from dry fruits of <italic>Scandix balansae</italic><sc>Reut.</sc> ex <sc>Boiss</sc>. allowed the identification of 81 components, comprising 91.4% of the total oil composition. Interestingly, the major identified volatile compounds were medium‐chain‐length <italic>n</italic>‐alkanes, <italic>i.e.</italic>, tridecane (6.7%), pentadecane (13.4%), and heptadecane (19.3%), and a long‐chain homolog nonacosane (7.6%). A number of minor oil constituents, among them tetradecyl 3‐methylbutanoate, and octadecyl 2‐methylpropanoate, 3‐methylbutanoate, and pentanoate, turned out to have a restricted natural occurrence not only in umbellifers but also in the Plant Kingdom, whereas the last ester is a new natural compound in general. The identity of these rare plant constituents that present excellent chemotaxonomic marker candidates for <italic>Scandix</italic> species was unambiguously confirmed by co‐injection of the oil sample with appropriate standards, which were synthesized for this purpose and fully characterized (<sup>1</sup>H‐ and <sup>13</sup>C‐NMR, IR, MS). To explore the possible applicability of the essential oils' compositional data in the taxonomy of Apiaceae, the herein studied and additional 58 oils obtained from Scandiceae taxa were compared using multivariate statistical analyses (MVA). MVA demonstrated that the evolution of the volatiles' metabolism of Scandiceae taxa was neither genera‐specific nor follows their morphological evolution.</p> </abstract>