Essential oil composition of Cladanthus eriolepis (Coss. ex Maire) Oberpr. & Vogt, an endemic species to Morocco

ABSTRACT

Cladanthus eriolepis (C. eriolepis) (Coss. ex Maire) Oberpr. & Vog. is endemic to High Atlas (Dades Gorge and Todgha Gorge), the Anti Atlas and Saharan Morocco. It is known under the vernacular names ‘Alougjim, gtaa-eddib, laatetecha’ and ‘Lamghizal’. Two essential oil samples have been isolated from aerial parts and analyzed by combination of chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques [gas chromatography (GC) in combination with retention indices (RI), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy]. The compositions of both oil samples were dominated by hemiterpene esters such as isobutyl isobutyrate (21.2% and 20.8% respectively) and isobutyl angelate (22.0% and 22.4% respectively). Other esters present at appreciable contents were 2-methylallyl isobutyrate (5.3% and 5.5%), 2-methylbutyl isobutyrate (5.7% and 5.8%), 2-methylallyl angelate (4.6% and 4.9%) and 2-methylbutyl angelate (7.7% and 7.2%) beside α-pinene (9.5% and 5.8%) and β-bisabolene (2.8% and 4.0%). The compositions of the investigated oil samples from C. eriolepis differed substantially with literature data and with those of other Cladanthus species growing wild in Morocco.

KEYWORDS:

• Cladanthus eriolepis
• endemic
• essential oil
• hemiterpene esters
• ¹³C-NMR

Acknowledgments

We thank M. El Hafidi My Tayeb from the Regional Office for Agricultural Enhancement (Ouarzazate, Morocco) for his kindness and help.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).