Comparative Study of the Chemical Composition of Root, Stem and Leaf Essential Oils from Synedrella nodiflora (L.) Gaertn

This study aims at investigating the chemical composition of root, stem and leaf essential oils from Ivorian Synedrella nodiflora, with the root oil being described for the first time. Sixty, fifty-one and forty-nine constituents were, respectively identified in the root, stem and leaf oils using a combination of GC(RI), GC-MS and 13C-NMR analyses. They accounted for 95.6–97.3%, 92.6–97.6% and 93.3–98.8% of the total composition, respectively. The main components of the root oil samples were γ-curcumene, (E)-β-caryophyllene, α-curcumene and curcuphenyl acetate. Three stem oil samples (S1, S2a, S3) were dominated by myrcene and limonene, while the most abundant components of sample S2b were thymol, germacrene D and β-elemene. (E)-β-caryophyllene and germacrene D were the major compounds of the leaf oil. Hierarchical cluster and principal component statistical analyses were performed and confirmed that the location does not influence the chemical composition. Group I consisted of the seven leaf oil samples, group II consisted of four stem oil samples and group III consisted of three root oil samples. The root oil composition differed considerably from the stem and leaf oil composition due to the presence of curcumene derivatives as major constituents. The leaf oil showed significant amounts of (E)-β-caryophyllene and germacrene D, while the stem oil stood out for its high myrcene, limonene and thymol contents.