British Journal of Research Open Access

Keywords

Essential oil, Medicinal, Salacia senegalensis, GC

Introduction

Salacia senegalensis Lam (DC) is a shrub erect or climbing with white or pale greenish cream petals and orange or yellow flowers. It belongs to the family Celestraceae [1]. Traditionally, the leaf extracts are used as antimalarials, lotion for sick children and in the treatment of skin problem like eczema by the people of the South-East zone of Nigeria [1]. Since ancient times, essential oils have been recognized for their medicinal value and they are very interesting and powerful natural plant products. They continue to be of paramount importance until the present day. Essential oils have been used as perfumes, flavors for foods and beverages, or to heal both body and mind for thousands of years [2-5]. In the era of the Renaissance, Europeans have taken over the task and with the development of science the composition and the nature of essential oils have been well established and studied [6-9].

Essential oils (also called volatile or ethereal oils, because they evaporate when exposed to heat in contrast to fixed oils) are odorous and volatile compounds found only in 10% of the plant kingdom and are stored in plants in special brittle secretory structures, such as glands, secretory hairs, secretory ducts, secretory cavities or resin ducts [10-17]. Essential oils constitute a major group of agro-based industrial products and they find applications in various types of industries, such as food products, drinks, perfumes, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics [6,18-24]. Germacrene D, α-Caryophyllene and α- Pinene are cytotoxic to cancer cells [25]. Anticarcinogenic property of Linalool has been reported [26]. Also, anti-bacterial properties of Carvacrol, α-Terpinene and Cymene have been reported [27]. However, no scientific data on essential oil (terpenes) composition of the Salacia senegalensis leaf has been reported; therefore, the aim of this work is to analyze the essential oil compositions its leaf.

Materials and Methods

Plant material collection and authentication

The acclaimed medicinal plant Salacia senegalensis (figure 1) was obtained from the forest of Orji Owerri North L.G.A, Imo State, Nigeria, identified and authenticated by taxonomists Prof Okeke, SE and Mbagwu, FN (PhD) of the Department of Plant Science and Biotechnology Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria.

Figure 1: Salacia senegalensis

Extraction and isolation of essential oil

The extraction was carried out according to the method of [28].

Principle

The leaf was extracted with chloroform, before subjecting the extract to chromatographic analysis.

Materials

These include,

1. The leaf sample (whole leaf powder)

2. Re-distilled chloroform

3. Weighing balance, water bath, rotary evaporator, timer, GC machine, 250ml conical flask, 100ml borosilicate beakers, Whatman N0.1 filter paper and funnel.

Procedure

Three grams of the pulverized sample were extracted three times with 30ml of redistilled chloroform for 15 minutes at a regulated temperature of 40°C in a 250 ml conical flask, placed in a water bath. The resultant mixture was filtered with Whatman N0.1 Filter paper and the filtrate concentrated to 1ml in the vial for gas chromatography analysis and 1μL was injected into the injection port of the GC.

Chromatographic conditions

The gas chromatograph was an HP 6890 (Hewlett Packard, Wilmington, DE, USA), GC apparatus, fitted with flame ionization detector (FID), powered with HP Chemstation Rev. A09.01 [1206] software, to identify compounds. The column was a capillary HP 5MS column (30 m x 0.25 mm x 0.25 μm film thickness). The inlet and detection, temperature were 150 and 300°C. Split injection was adopted with a split ration of 20:1. Hydrogen was used as the carrier gas, at a flow rate of 1.0ml/min. The hydrogen and compressed air pressure were 22psi and 28psi. The oven was programmed as follows: initial temperature of 40°C. Ramped at 5°C/min to 200°C, and ran at 200°C for 2 minutes.

Results and Discussion

The leaves of this plant Salacia senegalensis are rich in essential oil as shown in Table 1. The Table 1.0 showed the amount in percentage of these oils. A total of 38 compounds was identified and quantified. The most abundant are α-Terpinene (13.8 %), Germacrene D (12.4%), α-Phenanthrene (11.6%), α-Pinene (11.5 %), α-Caryophyllene (11.2 %), Linalool (9.2 %), Caryophyllene Oxide (9.1 %), Cymene (8.3 %), Carvacrol (5.6 %), 1, 8-Cineole (4.9 %) and β-Pinene (1.8 %). Germacrene D, α-Caryophyllene and α-Pinene found in the leaf of this plant are cytotoxic to cancer cells [25]. Linalool found in this leaf is anti-carcinogenic [26]. Also, antibacterial properties of Carvacrol, Caryophyllene Oxide, and α-Terpinene and Cymene found in the leaf of this plant has been reported [27]. Essential oils have many uses, both in pharmacology and in food. Essential oils exhibit antimicrobial activities, antiviral activities with broad spectrum, and may be useful as natural remedies and it seems that essential oils can be used as a suitable therapy for many pathologies [2-5]. In the cosmetic and in the food industry, essential oils are useful and may play different roles. (See Chromatogram a & b).

Table 1: The result of the essential oil composition (%) of Salacia senegalensis leaf extract

Chromatogram a

Chromatogram b

Conclusion

The leaves of this plant Salacia senegalensis are rich in essential oil, especially Alpha Terpinene, Germacrene D, Alpha Pinene, Alpha Caryophyllene, Linalool, Cymene, and Carvacrol, which has medicinal properties as discussed, thereby suggesting/ supporting the medicinal property of the leaf of this plant as used by the people of the South-East zone of Nigeria.

Conflict of interest

None.

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