CHANGES IN THE COMPOSITION OF ESSENTIAL OILS OF ARTEMISIA SIEVERSIANA WILLD. DURING RAW MATERIAL STORAGE

Introduction. Essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile compounds, mainly of terpene nature, extracted from plants and possessing many pharmacological actions. Among the variety of components of essential oils, the most interesting is natural azulene - chamazulene, formed in the pro-cess of hydrodistillation, possessing antimicrobial, regenerative, anti-burn and anti-inflammatory actions. One of the promising sources of obtaining essential oils rich in sesquiterpene and azulene compounds are representatives of the genus Artemisia L., especially A. sieversiana. The aim of the study is to determine changes in the composition of essential oils of A. sieversiana depending on the duration of storage of plant materials. Material and methods. Essential oils isolated from the above-ground part of A. sieversiana collected during the period of mass flowering in the Ivol-ginsky District of the Republic of Buryatia (freshly collected raw materials, from air-dried raw materials and from raw materials stored for 1, 6 and 12 months) were studied. Essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation, their content was determined by the volumetric method. The qualitative compo-sition and quantitative content of essential oil components were established by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results. The qualitative composition and quantitative content of the components of the above-ground part of A. sieversiana with different storage peri-ods were studied. Comparative analysis of the component composition of essential oils showed that the following were dominant in all samples: chamazulene (5.90–43.39%), germacrene D (3.77–12.80%), neryl 2-methylbutanoate (3.83–14.35%), neryl 3-methylbutanoate (2.15–5.69%), γ-costol (2.20–8.25%) and selina-4,11-diene (2.16–4.51%). Considering that the yield of essential oils decreases as the raw material is dried and stored, its pro-duction for the purpose of extracting chamazulene after 6 months of storage is impractical. Conclusion. The obtained data are relevant in practical activities to identify the shelf life expitartion of A. sieversiana raw materials in order to obtain essential oils with an optimal component composition.