نشریه اکوفیتو شیمی گیاهان دارویی
سال یازدهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 44، زمستان 1402)

Silene weed plant (Silene conoidea. L) is from from the Caryophyllacea family and its leaf is medicinal and edible. This plant in traditional and modern medicine, is used for treatment of skin infections and blood coagulation and its medicinal properties are attributed to phenolic compounds. In this research, flower, stem, leaf, and root of S. conoidea was collected from Sabzevar in Spring 2022 and their the chemical compositions of chloroform and dichloromethane fractions were reported by GC-MS. In order to prepare fractions of all the organs under the same conditions, petroleum ether was used for defatting, and chloroform and dichloromethane were used to extract the effective phytochemicals through maceration method. GC-MS analysis of chloroform fractions showed that terpene derivatives, phenolic derivatives, hydrocarbons, fatty acids, heterocyclic derivatives, phenylpropanes, silane derivatives and steroids are the main constituent compounds in all organs. Hydrocarbon derivatives (69.16%) in flower, terpene derivatives (40.46%) in stem, and fatty acid derivatives (40.46% and 63.98%) respectively in leaf and root are the most constituent compounds in chloroform fractions. Also, the GC-MS analysis of dichloromethane fractions showed that terpene derivatives (47.62% and 40.53%) in leaf and stem, respectively, and silane derivatives (52.70%) in root are the most constituent compounds. The properties of solvents play an important role in determining the extraction of phytochemical compounds with unique biological properties. In general, the results of this research showed that the non-polar extract of chloroform and the stem of the plant have valuable effective substances, especially terpene compounds, for medicinal purposes. These results suggested that other genetic resources of S. conoidea can be further explored to screen high bioactive compounds and purification of phytochemical compounds which are valuable to produce, expand, and develop natural antioxidants in the production of bio-medicine and food.

One of the methods to increase the secondary metabolites production in plants is to use elicitors and chitosan is a biotic elicitor obtained from the deacetylation of chitin in the outer shell of crustaceans such as shrimp. Shrimp shell is part of shrimp solid waste discarded in large amount every year. This research was carried out to investigate the effect of foliar application of chitosan elicitor (0.25 and 0.5 g/l) and shrimp shell powder (2.5 and 5 g/L) on medicinal plant Hyssopus officinalis in potted form at the Experimental Farm of Islamic Azad University, Shahre-kord Branch during spring to fall in 2017. The essential oils were obtained from aerial part of hyssop by Clevenger device. The essential oils were analyzed by GC-FID and GC/MS. Totally, 33 compounds و representing more than 89-95% of the oil composition, were identified. The predominant components of the essential oil in all treatments were cis-pinocamphon (43.19-55.09%) and beta-pinene (8.31-15.04%). Foliar application of chitosan, shrimp shell, and shrimp shell × chitosan increased the percentage of essential oil and cis-pinocamphon, but only the effect of chitosan 0.5 was statistically significant. Chitosan treatments decreased plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll of hyssop but shrimp shell and chitosan × shrimp shell solutions increased them, although no one was significant. According to the results of this study, it seems that in addition to chitosan, shrimp shell with higher concentrations can be used to increase effective substances of the medicinal plant Hyssopus officinalis.

This study is the first to investigate the chemical composition of essential oils in three organs (flower, leaf and stem) of Salvia macrosiphon Boiss., which grows wild and belongs to Lamiaceae family, in Fras procince. In the present experiment, 30 plants in full at flowering stage were randomly prepared from the Jahrom region of Fars province and divided into three groups of 10 and then flowers, leaves, and stems of each group were isolated for testing. Essential oil was extracted from each organ with three replications as in each repetition 200 g of plant material was used by hydro-distillation using Clevenger apparatus and analyzed by a combination of GC-FID and GC-MS techniques to check their chemical variability. The mean yields of essential oil (w/w%) in flowers, leaves, and stems were , 0.48%, 0.28%, and 0.06%, respectively. The total number of compounds identified and quantified were twenty-five in flowers, eighteen in leaves and twenty-one in stems, representing 93.1%, 93.4% and 92.2% of the total oil, respectively. Results of essential oil compound analysis illustrated that flower expressed a high content of linalool. Meanwhile, bicyclogermacrene + (E)-caryophyllene and germacrene D + bicyclogermacrene were the major compounds in leaf and stem organs, respectively. Also, results showed that , in the three studied organs, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were the common group with the highest amountin leaves (69.1%), stems (68.0%), and flowers (34.5%). The highest level of oxygenated monoterpens was found in the flower part, represented by 27.3% of linalool. In conclusion, the plant organs of S. macrosiphon had different qualities and concentrations of essential oil. Flowers were the most beneficial organ of this species for essential oil and linalool compound productions.

Many researches have been conducted to introduce ultrasound as an auxiliary factor to increase the efficiency of extraction of essential oils from medicinal plants. However, few researchers have studied the role of ultrasound waves in stimulating chemical reactions of the essential compounds of plants. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of ultrasound on the main components of essential oil of Thymus vulgaris L. after extracting the essential oil and without the presence of plant tissue. For this purpose, the aerial parts of the plant were harvested at the flowering stage from the south of Tehran in June 2021 . The essential oil of the plant was extracted using a distillation apparatus (Clevenger) and its compounds were determined and measured by GC and GC/MS. Subsequently, ultrasonic waves were applied to the extracted essential oil by a titanium probe (400 w) with three variable factors of temperature, time, and the ratio of essential oil/ water at three levels. Finally, 27 treated essential oil samples were prepared and their chemical compounds were quantified by GC. The primary essential oil contained 44.37% of thymol, 29.80% of p-cymene and 21.24% of γ-terpinene. The results showed that the application of ultrasound to the essential oil increased the amount of thymol and decreased the amounts of γ-terpinene and p-cymene. By optimizing the conditions (1:0 ratio of thyme essential oil and water, 20˚C and 10 min), the active ingredient thymol was reduced from 44.37% to 70.18%. Ultrasonic waves in the presence of water and oxygen caused the production of hydroproxyl radical (HOO˙) and then showed oxidation reactions to produce thymol from γ-terpinene and p-cymene. The results showed that in addition to helping to increase the efficiency of extraction, ultrasound can cause a change in the chemistry and the ratio of phytochemical compounds in the essential oil by stimulating radical reactions.

The objectives of this study were to document the indigenous botanical knowledge pertaining to medicinal plants uses, introduce the most prevalently used plant species, and undertake a quantitative analysis of data gathered from both urban and rural sectors among the residents of Jajarm County, North Khorasan, Iran. To this aim, 81 knowledgeable individuals from Jajarm and its neighboring villages were queried regarding the used plants, application techniques, and intended purposes. These individuals were selected through a random and snowball sampling methods and interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire and informal discussions, following their prior consent. Taxonomic identification of all mentioned plant species was accomplished using diverse botanical references. Ethnobotanical metrics such as Use Value (UV), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) were employed to analyze the data. The investigation revealed 69 distinct plant species belonging to 30 botanical families, with Lamiaceae and Apiaceae standing out as the most abundant families. Notably, plant leaves were identified as the most frequently utilized component, predominantly through decoction. Mentha aquatica had the highest UV, Thymus spp. demonstrated the most prominent RFC, while gastrointestinal disorders exhibited the highest ICF. The findings of this research underscored the depth of indigenous botanical wisdom, notably among the older female demographic of the region. the findings of the study provide a basis for the selection of plants for phytochemical and pharmacological studies.

The Hyrcanian forests, located along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, are a unique and ancient ecosystem. To preserve the genetic reserves of these forests, it is essential to examine the diversity of their medicinal plants , including the date-plum or wild persimmon (Diospyros lotus L.). The aim of this research was to evaluate the native date-plum fruit harvested from three regions of the Hyrcanian forests including Gorgan, Aliabad, and Behshahr in terms of morphological, physicochemical, and antioxidant traits. to do so, fruit samples were collected and evaluated in November 2021 during commercial-local harvest. The obtained results showed that the highest fruit weight, diameter, and volume were recorded in samples collected from Behshahr, while the lowest weight, length, diameter, and fruit volume were observed in fruits belonging to Gorgan. This research indicated that fruits collected from Behshahr were more elongated compared to those collected from Gorgan and Aliabad. The comparison of qualitative traits confirmed that the highest acidity and vitamin C content were observed in Behshahr and the highest pH and total soluble solids were recorded in the fruit samples of Gorgan. The maximum total phenol and flavonoid were related to Aliabad and Behshahr. Finally, the highest total anthocyanin and antioxidant capacity were observed in Gorgan. Furthermore, this study found that fruit weight had a significant positive correlation with acidity while it showed a significant negative correlation with pH and antioxidant capacity. Also, fruit acidity had a significant negative correlation with antioxidant capacity and total anthocyanin. In contrast, pH and total soluble solids showed a significant positive correlation with total anthocyanin. In general, a great diversity was observed among the medicinal fruit of the wild date-plum collected from the three investigated regions in Hyrcanian forests with regard to the morphological, physicochemical, and antioxidant activity.

Triterpenic acids, specifically Betulinic, Oleanolic, and Ursolic acids, are essential bioactive compounds found in jujube Ziziphus jujuba mill. fruit, possessing therapeutic properties for various diseases, including cancer. However, the amount of these triterpenic acids can vary depending on geographical and cultivation conditions. For this purpose, jujubes grown in orchards of 29 different habitats in different provinces located in the east, northeast, south, center, and west of Iran were sampled at the end of the summer season. The triterpenic acids present in the dried jujube powder were extracted using 96% ethanol as a solvent, with a liquid-to-solid ratio of 15 mL/g, under ultrasonic waves at a temperature of 40 ℃ for 35 minutes. The extracted acids were quantified using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a UV detector. The obtained data were subjected to subsequent nested analysis and the Tukey test. The results revealed that only the average amount of betulinic acid significantly varied among the ecotypes. Furthermore, a hierarchical cluster analysis based on the diversity of these three triterpenic acids, the studied ecotypes were divided into four clusters. Cluster 1, representing Iran's eastern and northeastern regions, exhibited the highest amounts of these triterpenic acids. However, the analysis of variance among the clusters showed no significant difference among them. The results showed that the climatic conditions, soil quality, seed, and agricultural methods can be effective in changing or not changing the amounts of triterpenic acids in jujube.

Nowadays, considering the side effects of synthetic antibiotics and the increase in drug resistance, it is a necessity to replace them by natural compounds as safe sources. Thus, studies have been carried out on the medicinal properties of essential oils of different Ferula L. species, but there was no report on Ferula tabasensis Rech. f. as an Iranian endemic species. In this research, the leaves and flowers of Ferula tabasensis were harvested from its main habitat (between Kharanaq and Saghand – elevation 1570 m) at the full-flowering stage in the spring of 2021. The essential oils were extracted by hydro distillation method (Clevenger apparatus and GC and GC/MS were used to analyze chemical constituents. The antimicrobial activity of essential oil was evaluated by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination by broth dilution method and the growth inhibitory zone diameter (mm) was also measured. The yields of essential oils from the leaves and flowers of the plant were 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively. The results showed that bornyl acetate (34.2% and 35%) and α-pinene (12.2% and 8.4%) were identified as major compounds of essential oil from leaves and flowers, respectively. Also, citronellol (15.5%) was another main constituent found in the essential oil of the flowers of Ferula tabasensis. Both essential oils had good antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms, except E. coli. It seems that antibacterial activity can be mostly attributed to the main compounds of essential oils in the leaves and flowers of the plant and, thus, they can be considered as alternatives to synthetic antibiotics.