Compositional characteristics of the volatile oils of three Artemisia spp. from western Himalaya

Essential oils isolated from Artemisia gmelinii Web. ex Stechm, Artemisia roxburghiana Bess. var. purpurascens (Jacq.) Hook and Artemisia maritima L. were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Artemisia gmelinii, A.roxburghiana and A.maritima yielded 1.43%, 0.77-0.90% and 1.67% essential oil, respectively. In all, ninety-two constituents, representing 95.6-99.1% of the total oil compositions of different Artemisia spp., were identified. Major constituents of A.gmelinii oil were artemisia ketone (40.7%), cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (21.3%), 1,8-cineole (11.0%) and pinocarvone (8.9%). The oil of A.roxburghiana contained borneol (2.1-18.5%), alpha-thujone (0.2-13.1%), artemisia alcohol (5.2-11.6%), beta-eudesmol (5.0-11.6%), eucarvone (2.0-8.9%), caryophyllene oxide (3.5-8.8%), 1,8-cineole (3.2-8.1%), cis-sabinene hydrate (4.5-7.1%), cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (0.2-5.4%) and terpinen-4-ol (2.2-5.2%) as main constituents. However, the oil of A.maritima was rich in thujones (alpha-thujone 72.1%, beta-thujone 8.4%). The oils of the investigated Artemisia spp. showed considerable variations in their chemical compositions compared with earlier reports.