A review of volatile sulfur-containing compounds from terrestrial plants: biosynthesis, distribution and analytical methods

Abstract

This review includes 554 volatile sulfur-containing compounds (VSCs) that have been reported from 43 terrestrial plant families until and including 2010. This review deals with extraction and analytical methods for VSCs, distribution of VSCs among plants, biosynthesis and other important aspects of this class of natural products. It has been shown that some classes of VSCs, specifically those in certain plant families, may have chemotaxonomic significance. This review also presents the retention indices of VSCs in different types of gas chromatography columns, as reported to date.

Keywords:

• Sulfur-containing compounds
• distribution
• plant families
• isothiocyanate

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Seyyed Ahmad Emami and Dr. Javad Asili for their scientific consulting and kind help.