Chemical Composition of the Essentiol Oil from Leaves of Ferula haussknechtii Wolff ex Rech.f. Grown Wild in Iran

The genus Ferula comprises perennial herbs distributed from the Mediterranian region to central Asia. Thirty species of genus Ferula are found in Iran among which 15 are endemic [1].Several species of the genus Ferula are used in traditional medicine, e. g. the roots ofF. persica have been used in folk medicine to treat diabetes [2].There have been several studies of the genus Ferula. The reported compounds were mainly coumarins and sesquiterpene esters. Conversely only a few studies have reported the chemical composition of Ferula essential oils. Theaim of our studyisto identify the constituents of the essential oil of leaves ofF.haussknechtii(syn:Ferula physokoleoRech.f.) collected from Ilam, Iran, in July 2015. The oil was obtained by solvent free microwave extraction method and analyzed by GC and GC/MS.Forty-two components in the leaf oil of F. haussknechtii, which represented about (90.1%) of the total oil were identified.The leaf oil of the plant consisted of one monoterpene hydrocarbon (0.5%), three oxygenated monoterpenes (2.4%),fourteensesquiterpene hydrocarbons (26.4%), twelve oxygenated sesquiterpenes (32.8%), two diterpenoides (8.9%) and ten nonterpenoides compounds (19.1%). The major components of this oil were caryophyllene oxide (17.7%) and tetracosane (12.7%).Other notable constituents were neophytadiene (8.6%) and β- caryophyllene (12.7 %). As can be seen from the above information the leaf oil of F. haussknechtii was characterized by high amounts of sesquiterpenes (59.2%).