EVALUATION OF THE CONTENT OF PIGMENTS IN COMMON JUNIPER NEEDLES USING THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY AND SPECTROPHOTOMETRY

An analysis of scientific literature shows the growing interest of researchers in studying the chemical composition and pharmacological action of juniper needles, the use of which will reduce the operational load on the wild plant Juniperus communis. There is evidence of the presence of antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, hepatoprotective activity in juniper needles. Studies have been conducted on the composition of the components of juniper needle essential oil, phenolic carboxylic acids and flavonoids. However, at the moment there are practically no data on the content of lipophilic fraction components - chlorophylls and carotenoids in raw materials. Given the above, the purpose of this work is to study the qualitative composition of pigments in common juniper needles, as well as to assess the quantitative content of chlorophylls and carotenoids in comparison with the needles of young and perennial shoots. The object of the study was juniper needles harvested from shrubs cultivated in the Botanical Garden of Sechenov University, as well as wild plants growing in the undergrowth of forests in Moscow and Tver Regions. The components were identified by thin-layer chromatography, and quantitatively determined by UV spectrophotometry. During the analysis of the qualitative composition of pigments in common juniper needles by thin-layer chromatography, 8 spots were visually detected in the extracts from all the samples we selected; when viewing the plate in UV light, 6 spots were detected, of which β-carotene and chlorophyll α were identified. The total content of the pigment complex in the raw material samples was established, and the age of the raw material does not have a significant effect on the total pigment content, since the difference between the total pigment content in the needles collected from virgin and old regenerative shoots is from 3.6 to 4.8%.