1. No category

202
Journal of Pharmaceutical, Chemical and Biological Sciences
ISSN: 2348 -7658
September -November 2014 ; 2(3):202-207
Available online at http://www.jpcbs.info
Online published on November 04, 2014
Original Research Article
Composition of the Essential Oil of the Fruits of Phyllanthus emblica
Cultivated in Egypt
Dalia El Amir*1, Sameh F. AbouZid1, Mona H. Hetta1, Abdelaaty A. Shahat2, Mohamed A. ElShanawany3
1
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni Suef University, Egypt
Phytochemistry Department, National Research Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
3
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Egypt
2
* Corresponding Author
Received: 19 October 2014
Revised: 26 October 2014
Accepted: 29 October 2014
ABSTRACT
The GC/MS analysis of the hydrodistilled essential oil of the fruits of Phyllanthus emblica cultivated in Egypt
was carried out to show the chemotype variation. It resulted in identification of 42 compounds. These
compounds constitute 96.13% of the essential oil components. The oil obtained in 0.11% of the fruits (FW).
Esters constituted 33.26% of the components, where methyl salicylate (14.28%) was the major. Hydrocarbons
constituted 30.29%, undecane was the major (7.55%). Aldehydes presented in 20.99%, where benzaldehyde
(11.98%) was the major. Alcohols and ketones constituted 6.23% and 5.31% respectively. It could be concluded
that there is a significant difference between the chemical composition of the essential oil of fruits obtained
from Egypt and from other habitats.
Keywords: Phyllanthus emblica fruits; essential oil; GC/MS; methyl salicylate; benzaldehyde; Egypt
INTRODUCTION
Phyllanthus emblica L. (Euphorbiace) is one of the
extensively used plants in the traditional medicinal
system of Indian (Ayurveda) [1]. It is indigenous to
Nepal, India and Sri lanka, throughout South-East
Asia to Southern China. It is widely cultivated for its
fruits. It has many synonyms as Emblica officinalis
Geartn., Amla, Amlaki, Indian goose berry and
Emblic myrobalan [2]. It is a small to medium sized
deciduous tree, 8-18 meters high [3]. Fruits are rich
dietary source of vitamin C, minerals and amino
acids [4]. Phyllanthus emblica fruits are reported to
have antioxidant [5], hypolipidemic [6], antidiabetic
[7] and hepatoprotective activities [8]. It is also used
as antimicrobial agent [9] antitumor [10], gastro
J Pharm Chem Biol Sci, September-November 2014; 2(3): 202-207
El Amir et al
protective [11] or anti-inflammatory agent [12] and
can improve the metal-induced clastogenic effects
[13]. Earlier work on the fruits showed the
occurrence of several chemical constituents like
(emblicanin A,
emblicanin B, punigluconin,
pedunculagin, rutin and gallic acid [14], geraniin,
quercetin 3-β-D-glucopyranoside, kaempferol 3-β-Dglucopyranoside, isocorilagin, quercetin and
kaempferol [15] phyllanemblinin A, 1(β),2,3,6-tetraO-galloylglucose, chebulanin,
mallonin
and
putranjivain A [16], mucic acid [17], mucic acid 3-Ogallate [18], L-malic acid 2-O-gallate, mucic acid 2O-gallate, mucic acid 1,4-lactone 2-O- gallate,
mucic acid 1,4-lactone 5-O- gallate, mucic acid 1,4lactone 3-O-gallate, and mucic acid 1,4-lactone 3,5di-O-gallate [19]. However, there are very few
reports concerning the essential oil of the fruits. Liu
et al. (2009) investigated the essential oil obtained
from the fruits growing in Guangdong Province,
China by hydrodistillation (HD-EO) and supercritical
fluid extraction (SFE-EO). The analysis identified 31
and 26 compounds in HD-EO and SFE-EO
respectively.
Decanal,
β-caryophyllene,
βbourbonene, camphor, β-elemene, limonene,
methyl eugenol, 1-octen-3-ol, borneol, nerol and
myrecene were the major constituents of HD-EO.
SFE-EO contained high amounts of tetracosane and
palmitic acid which were absent in HD-EO. The
essential oil of P. emblica fruits growing in Sichuan,
china was extracted by steam distillation and
analyzed by Wang et al. (2009). The analysis
resulted in identification of 43 compounds were αfurfural, 2-chloro-bicyclooct-5-ene-2- carbonitrile,
methyl
salicylate,
trans-2-decenal,
hexahydrofarnesyl acetone were the major
constituents indicating that the constituents of the
essential oil of P. emblica differs according to the
habitat from place to another. In this report we
studied
the
essential oil
extracted
by
hydrodistillation from the fruits of P. emblica
cultivated in Egypt.
203
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Plant material
Fruits of Phyllanthus emblica were collected from El
Qnater gardens, Cairo, Egypt, early in the morning in
October, 2013 in ripening stage of the fruits. The
plant material was identified by a senior plant
taxonomist, Dr Abd El Halim Mohamed, Flora and
Taxonomy Department, Agricultural Research
Center Dokki, Giza. Voucher specimen (No. BUPD38) was deposited in the Herbarium of Department
of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni Suef
University, Egypt
Essential oil extraction
One kg (FW) of P. emblica fruits was used to obtain
the essential oil by hydrodistillation using Clevenger
apparatus (80-100ᴼC, 4 hours). The aqueous layer
was extracted using n-hexane. The obtained oil was
dried using anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored
in dark glass vial in a refrigerator until it has been
analyzed. The yield of the oil was calculated based
on the weight of fresh fruits.
Gas Chromatography
The volatile constituents were identified using
Agilent 6890 gas chromatography equipped with an
Agilent mass spectrometric detector, with a direct
capillary interface and fused silica capillary column
PAS-5 ms (30 m x 0.32 mm x 0.25 µm film
thickness). Helium was used as a carrier gas at
approximately 1 ml/min, pulsed splitless mode. The
solvent delay was 3 min. and the injection size was
1.0 µl. The mass spectrophotometric detector was
operated in electron impact ionization mode an
ioning energy of 70 eV, scanning from m/z 50 to
500. The ion source temperature was 230ᴼC and
quadrupole temperature was 150ᴼC. The electron
multiplier voltage (EM voltage) was maintained
1250 v above auto tune. The instrument was
manually turned using perfluorotributyl amine
(PFTBA). The GC temperature program was started
at 60ᴼC (3 min.) then elevated to 280ᴼC at rate of
J Pharm Chem Biol Sci, September-November 2014; 2(3): 202-207
El Amir et al
8ᴼC/min. The injector and detector temperature
were set at 250ᴼC and 280ᴼC, respectively. Wiely and
Nist 05 mass spectral database and published data
[20] were used in the identification of the spectral
peaks.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The yield of the oil was 0.11% calculated on the
basis of the weight of the fresh fruits. The chemical
composition and the relative percentages of
constituents found in the essential oil obtained from
the fruits of P. emblica cultivated in Egypt were
shown in Table 1.
Forty two compounds of the oil were identified
constituting 96.13% of the oil. The constituents’
identification was carried out using automated
interpretation of their mass spectra, comparing
these spectra to Wiley and Nist 05 mass spectral
data base provided by Agilent 6890, mass spectra
published in the literature [20] and also by
comparing the retention time of the peaks.
Methyl salicylate was the major component 14.28%.
This may support the use of the fruits traditionally
as anti-inflammatory [12]. It may be responsible for
the fragrant smell of the fruits.
Monoterpene
hydrocarbons
formed
10.78%,
oxygenated
monoterpenes were 8.49%. Sesquiterpenes were
2.21% and the oxygenated sesquiterpenes formed
204
0.32%. Esters were the main oxygenated
compounds forming 33.26% where methyl salicylate
and 2-methyl butyl acetate (8.6%) were the main
esters. Aldehydes formed 20.99% where
benzaldehyde (11.98%) and cumin aldehyde (4.64%)
were the major ones. Alcohols constituted 6.28%.
Coahuilensol was the major alcoholic component
4.57%. Ketones present in 5.31%. Acetophenone
was the major ketone in the oil 4.16%.
Hydrocarbons were 30.29%. Undecane, decane and
nonacosane formed 7.55%, 6.82% and 3.54%
respectively of the essential oil composition. This
indicates that there is a chemotype variation
between the fruits cultivated in Egypt and those of
Guangdong and Sichuan. Essential oil obtained from
Guangdong fruits contained decanal as the major
constituent (14.36%), followed by β-caryophyllene,
β-bourbonene and camphor (13.57%, 11.85% and
9.7% respectively [21]. The major essential oil
compounds of Sichuan P. emblica fruits were αfurfural (17.93%), 2-chloro-bicyclooct-5-ene-2carbonitrile (7.69%), methyl salicylate (7.25%), 2decenal (5.05%), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (5.03%)
[22]. This chemotype variation is governed by the
external factors such as soil quality and climatic
conditions. The chemical composition of a plant is
thus subjected to quantitative and qualitative
variation [23, 24].
J Pharm Chem Biol Sci, September-November 2014; 2(3): 202-207
El Amir et al
205
Table 1 : Essential oil constituents of the fruits of P. emblica cultivated in Egypt and their percentage in the
oil. (*Major component)
Peak No.
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
11
12
14
15
16
17
18
19
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
30
34
35
36
38
39
40
41
44
45
47
49
51
52
53
54
55
57
58
60
Compound
2-Methyl butyl acetate
Isopropyl,2-methyl butyrate
2,4-hexadienol
Benzaldehyde
Menthane
Decane
Butyl cyclohexane
Butyl cyclohexene
Acetophenone
Undecane
Vertocitral
2-Methyl decalin
Menth-2-en-1-ol
Coahuilensol
Ethyl benzoate
*Methyl Salicylate
2,6-Dimethyl undecane
β-cyclocitral
Sabinene hydrate acetate
Cumin aldehyde
2-Decenal
ɣ-Terpinen-7-al
β-Damascenone-ZEthyl cinnamate-ECapillene
α-Farnesene-E,E
Nerolidol-ZDihydro apofarnesol
n-hexadecane
Myristaldehyde
Sterayl aldehyde
2-pentadecanone-6,10,14- trimethyl
Farnesyl acetone
Ethyl hexadecanoate
1-Octadecene
n-Eicosane
n-Tricosane
Tetracosane
Pentacosane
Hexacosane
Heptacosane
Nonacosane
% of the total identified components
Rt (min)
4:8
5:22
5:92
6:54
7:04
7:33
8:03
8:56
8:80
9:40
9:73
9:99
10.12
10.49
10:85
11:34
11:59
11:82
11:97
12:18
12:49
13.09
14:68
15:98
16.35
16.59
17:44
17:65
17:90
18:12
19:56
21:28
22:26
23:11
24:18
25:47
26:54
27:57
28:56
29:52
30:44
32:53
Percentage
8.6
0.03
0.47
11.98*
0.68
6.82
0.31
2.97
4.16
7.55
0.65
0.22
0.48
4.57
8.03
14.28*
0.47
0.37
0.42
4.64
0.8
2.2
0.34
1.57
1.03
2.21
0.32
0.44
0.50
0.23
0.12
0.49
0.32
0.33
0.20
0.34
0.73
0.78
0.82
0.64
0.48
3.54
96.13%
J Pharm Chem Biol Sci, September-November 2014; 2(3): 202-207
El Amir et al
CONCLUSION
This report considered the first one on the essential
oil composition of P. emblica fruits cultivated in
Egypt. The main components of the oil were methyl
salicylate and benzaldehyde. It revealed a significant
difference between the chemical composition of the
essential oil of fruits obtained from Guangdong,
Sichuan and from Egypt.
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Cite this article as:
Dalia El Amir, Sameh F. AbouZid, Mona H. Hetta, Abdelaaty A. Shahat and Mohamed A. ElShanawany. Composition of the Essential Oil of the Fruits of Phyllanthus emblica Cultivated in
Egypt. J Pharm Chem Biol Sci 2014; 2(3):202-207
J Pharm Chem Biol Sci, September-November 2014; 2(3): 202-207