Identification of volatile compounds in hydro-alcoholic extracts of Calendula officinalis L. flowers and Mimosae tenuiflorae bark using GC/MS

Abstract

Summary. Calendula officinalis L. and Mimosae tenuiflorae are important plants in the traditional Mexican ethno-medicine due to that possess biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and healing activities. In this study, the volatile compounds present in the hydro-alcoholic extract of flowers of Calendula officinalis, and from the bark of Mimosae tenuiflorae were determined using gas chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (GC/MS).

The extracts were submitted to solid-phase extraction (SPE) with C18 cartridges in order to obtain the compounds in a suitable solvent for analysis by gas chromatography and to, simultaneously, pre-concentrate them. In both extracts, the acetonitrile allowed us to elute a greater amount (20 to 40) of the volatile compounds. In the hydro-alcoholic extract of Calendula officinalis flowers, the α-thujone, β-thujone, 4-terpineol, (-)-bornylacetate,  eucalyptol, α-cadinol and α-epi-muurolol compounds were eluted from the SPE cartridge using acetonitrile and isooctane; α-thujone was the compound with the highest percentage area, but in the hydro-alcoholic extract of Mimosae tenuiflorae bark, only eucalyptol was recovered in this way. In this same extract, only resorcinol and N,N-dimethyltryptamine were recovered by elution with acetonitrile, and these were major compounds together with the (+)-2-bornanone.

Industrial relevance. The anti-tumour and anti-metastatic effects of α-thujone, the antimicrobial and anti-parasitic properties of 4-terpineol as well as the antifungal activity of α-cadinol, in addition to the majority presence of these compounds in the hydro-alcoholic extract of Calendula officinalis flowers, support the prolonged employment of this plant in traditional medicine and potentiates its application in the pharmaceutical and biomedical areas. This may be through the use of the hydro-alcoholic extract or using it as a source to obtain volatile compounds. Moreover, the identification of resorcinol and 2-boranone in the hydro-alcoholic extract of Mimosae tenuiflorae bark explains some of the properties attributed to the plant, including the antiseptic and analgesic effects.

Keywords. Calendula officinalis; Mimosae tenuiflorae; hydro-alcoholic extracts; SPE; GC/MS