332 0009-3130/12/4802-0332  2012 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 1) Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey, fax: +90 232 3881036, e-mail: bijen.kivcak@ege.edu.tr; 2) Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Anadolu University, 26470, Eskisehir, Turkey. Published in Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 2, March–April, 2012, pp. 297–299. Original article submitted January 13, 2011. Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vol. 48, No. 2, May, 2012 [Russian original No. 2, March–April, 2012] CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF Anthemis coelopoda var. bourgaei AND A. aciphylla var. aciphylla T. Mert Gonenc, 1 T. Fafal Erdogan, 1 B. Demirci, 2 UDC 547.913 K. H. C. Baser, 2 and B. Kivcak 1* The genus Anthemis L. of Asteraceae (Compositae) is represented in the Flora of Turkey by 81 taxa belonging to 51 species, 29 of which are endemic to Turkey. Anthemis aciphylla var. aciphylla Boiss. is also one of the endemic species and grows wild in west and central Anatolia [1]. Anthemis coelopoda var. bourgaei Boiss. is distributed in western and southern regions of Turkey. All of these Anthemis species are called “Papatya” in Turkey, and infusions of A. coelopoda var. bourgaei are used in Turkish traditional medicine especially as a digestive aid and as a gargle for toothache [2, 3]. Many Anthemis sp. are used as a herbal tea and for food flavoring, as well as in cosmetics and in the pharmaceutical industry [4–6]. Extracts, tinctures, salves, and tisanes are widely used as antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial in Europe. The occurrence of sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, and essential oils in various Anthemis species has been reported in previous works [7–13]. To the best of our knowledge, there is no published report on the phytochemical composition of A. coelopoda var. bourgaei and A. aciphylla var. aciphylla essential oils. Therefore, we focused our study on the composition of the oils by GC and GC-MS analysis. The results of analysis of A. coelopoda var. bourgaei and A. aciphylla var. aciphylla oils obtained by water distillation are shown in Table 1. GC/MS analysis of the oils was done. Fithy-eight components representing 87.8% of A. aciphylla var. aciphylla oil and 45 compounds representing 90.6% of A. coelopoda var. bourgaei oil were characterized. The best of our knowledge, no report exists on the essential oil compotions of A. coelopoda var. bourgaei and A. aciphylla var. aciphylla. According to our results, the common main constituents of the essential oil from the overground parts of A. aciphylla var. aciphylla were characterized by a high percentage of irregular monoterpenes [santolinatriene (44.2%)], followed by [methyl chavicol (4.1%) and -terpineol (3.2%)]. Monoterpene hydrocarbons [-pinene (45.2%)] and irregular monoterpenes [santolinatriene (14.8%)] were found to be the main components in the essential oil from the overground parts of A. coelopoda var. bourgaei. -Pinene was also found to be the major constituent in previously studied essential oils from A. ruthenica, A. tinctoria, A. triumfetti, and A. austrica [14–16]. The essential oils from the overground parts of A. aciphylla var. aciphylla and A. coelopoda var. bourgaei were characterized by a high percentage of santolinatriene (44.2% and 14.8%). The irregular monoterpene [santolinatriene (27.33% and 49.5%)] was also observed as the major constituents in previously studied essential oils of A. melampodina [17] and A. pectinata var. pectinata [18]. It was first isolated from Santolina chamaecyparissus L. [16]. Previous investigations on the essential oil from the overground parts of A. aciphylla Boiss. var. discoidea Boiss., collected from central Anatolia (Eskisehir), contained high concentrations of -pinene (49.4%) and terpinen-4-ol (21.8%) [19]. These compounds were found in lesser concentrations in the essential oil of A. aciphylla var. aciphylla. Santolinatriene, the main component of the oil of A. aciphylla var. aciphylla, was not observed in the oil of A. aciphylla var. discoidea. Plant Material. The overground parts of A. coelopoda var. bourgae and A. aciphylla var. aciphylla were collected from Izmir-Bozdag in May 2010 and identified by O. Secmen from Ege University. The voucher specimens (Nos. 1421, 1423) are deposited in the Herbarium of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, in Izmir. The essential oils of A. aciphylla var. aciphylla and A. coelopoda var. bourgaei were obtained by water distillation of the comminuted overground parts of the plant for 4 h.