The composition of the terpenoids ofMentha arvensis

THE COMPOS~TION OF TH~ T~RP~NOZDS OF M o n ~ ~m% ~ e ~ s Nguy~n Tkhi Tkhan Huong, ~. A. Vo~ob'~va, and A. G. Nikolaev UDC 547.913:633,81 Vietnam disposes of 8rear natural resources of wild mint, the chemical composition and useful properties of which have been studied inadequately. We have investigated Mentha ~ue~a~s L. (field mint) of the flora of Northern Vietnam, Since 1980 it has been grown under the conditions of Moldavia and has been used to obtain highly productive hybrids. The essential oil was obtained by the steam distillation method from dry leaves with inflorescences, Its yield in 1980 was 1.82%, and in the following two years about 3%, on ~he absolutely dry weisht. The oil which we studied, of the 1982 crop, consisted of a slightly yellowish liquid with a weak smell of mint and the following physieoehemical indices: d ~ 0.9812; n=°D 1.4810; [u]~ ° +37; E~/a (0.2 M LiCl) --1.34 V and -1.82 V, -max~C=H~OH260 nm; ketones content 50% by the sulflte method and 34% by the hydroxylamine method [i]. The composition of the terpenoids was studied by gas-liquid chromatography on a Tsvet-152 chromatograph with a flame-ionization detector using helium as the carrier gas at a rate of flow of 45 ml/min with a 2 m × 0.25 cm column containing as the stationary phase 5% XE-60 on Chromaton N-AW-HMDS~ the evaporator temperature being 230°C, The working conditions were programmed. The rate of rise in temperature was 3°C/min. The components were identified by comparison with markers from their retention times. Some of them were isolated by repeated column and preparative thin-layer chromatography with silica gel with subsequent identification from their reduction potentials at the dropping mercury electrode (SCE, E:/2 in 0.2 M LiCI), and from their absorption maxima in their UV spectra (in ethanol), and their IR spectra [1-4]. In the essential oil of the field mint of the Vietnamese flora we detected 23 components. Of these we identified (%): a-pinene, 0.41; 8-pinene, 0.72; myrcene, 0.47; limonene, 4,5; p-cymene, 0.09; octan-3-ol, 3.2; menthone, 5.8; (--)-menthol, I0.i (mp 42-43°C); menthyl acetate 1.6; (+)-pulegone, 24.9 (E:/2 -1.80 V; %max 252 nm); (+)-piperitone, 0.9, (E~/~ -- 1,84 V; %max 235 nm); piperitone, 4 (%max 246 n/n); piperitone oxide, 16 (E:/= -- 1.44 V); piperitenone oxide, 21.5 (E:/2 -- 1.34 V; %max 262 nm). The components mentioned made up 90.2% of the total; the others could not be identified. The ketone oxides detected in the essential oil are uncharacteristic for the species Mentha ~uens~8 L. [5, 6]. The individual studied apparently has a hybrid origin, as was also shown by its sterility. LITERATURE CITED io M. Goryaev, and I. Pliva, Methods of Investigating Essential Oils [in Russian], Alma-Ate 2. E, Gildemeister and F. Hoffmann, Die atherische Ole, 4th, edn., W. Treibs ed., Academia Verlag, Berlin, Vol. VII (1961). M. Brezina and P. Zuman, Polarography in Medicine, Biochemistry, and Pharmacy, Interscience, New York (1958). A . G . Nikolaev and A. T. Shvets, Tr. KGU po Khimii Prirod. Soedin., Kishinev, No. 2, 85 (1962). I.P. Talwar, M. C. Nidam, K. L. Handa, and L. D. Kapoor, Indian Oil Soap Jr, 29, No. i, 33 (1963). I. Kuleska, H. Cybbuka, and I. Gora, Zvesty Nauk Po!itech. Lodz, ~, 23 (1961). (1962). 3. 4. 5. 6. V° I. Lenin Kishinev State University. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No, 5, p. 649, September-October, 1983, Original article submitted April 15, 1983. 616 0009-3130/83/1905- 0616507.50 © 1984 Plenum Publishing Corporation  (...truncated)