Chemical composition of the essential oil of several Iris species

Abstract

The essential oil was obtained by a steam distillation from the dried leaves of Iris germanica L., Iris versicolor L., Iris graminea L., Iris halophila Pall. (Iridaceae) and was investigated by a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method. In I. germanica, I. versicolor, I. graminea, I. halophila were determined 0.06%, 0.10%, 0.06%, 0.02% of oil yields, with a total of 28, 31, 25, 23 compounds, respectively. In leaves are predominate essential oil triterpenoids, fatty acids, their esters, aliphatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives. The highest content of α-irone and trans-2,6-γ-irone was obtained in the oil of I. graminea leaves with 2.71% and 1.00%, respectively. Contents of α-irone and γ-ironeare accepted as the most significant commercial quality criteria of Iris essential oil. Such compounds as β-damascenone (1.11, 0.50% in I. versicolor and I. germanica, respectively), phytol (only in I. versicolor, 22.40%), squalene (in all species, 5.95–22.84%) were identified for the first time in Iris genus plants. This is the first report about isolation and identification of oil from Iris leaves by GC-MS.