Chemical Analysis of Pomegranate Flower Essential Oil in Türkiye

Abstract

Punica granatum L. (Pomegranate) grows naturally in a wide area from northwest Türkiye to western and northern Pakistan and is also cultivated throughout subtropical and tropical regions of the world. Pomegranate is in the form of a spiny shrub or a small tree. The barks, fruit peels, flowers, and seeds of the plant are used in traditional medicine due to their ellagitannin and polyphenol content and are used to treat circulatory system disorders. In this study, essential oil (EO) of P. granatum flowers was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. As a result, the chemical composition of the essential oil obtained was elucidated. As a result, nine compounds representing 99.9% of the essential oil of P. granatum flowers were characterized, with hexadecanoic acid (52.4%), linoleic acid (15.2%), heptacosane (10.1%), and pentacosane (10.1%) as the major components. Notably, this research marks the first comprehensive examination of the essential oil of pomegranate flowers in Türkiye.

Keywords

• Punica granatum
• Punicaceae
• essential oil
• hydrodistillation
• GC-FID
• GC-MS

Thanks

The authors would like to thank Dr. M. Mesud Hürkul (Ankara University, Ankara) for collecting plant materials.

References

1. 1. Davis PH. Flora of Türkiye and the east aegean islands. 4th Edition. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 1972.
2. 2. IPNI. International plant names index [Internet]. [cited 2024 Feb 1]. Available from: .
3. 3. POWO. Plants of the world online kew science [Internet]. [cited 2024 Feb 1]. Available from: .
4. 4. Evans W. Pharmacognosy. 5th Edition. Saunders; 2002. 25–26 p.
5. 5. Mekni M, Flamini G, Garrab M, Hmida RB, Cheraief I, Mastouri M, et al. Aroma volatile components, fatty acids and antibacterial activity of four Tunisian Punica granatum L. flower cultivars. Ind Crops Prod [Internet]. 2013 Jul 1;48:111–7. Available from: .
6. 6. Badria FA. Melatonin, serotonin, and tryptamine in some Egyptian food and medicinal plants. J Med Food [Internet]. 2002 Sep 7;5(3):153–7. Available from: .
7. 7. Hernández F, Melgarejo P, Tomás-Barberán FA, Artés F. Evolution of juice anthocyanins during ripening of new selected pomegranate (Punica granatum) clones. Eur Food Res Technol [Internet]. 1999 Nov 3;210(1):39–42. Available from: .
8. 8. Nawwar MAM, Hussein SAM, Merfort I. Leaf phenolics of Punica granatum. Phytochemistry [Internet]. 1994 Nov 7;37(4):1175–7. Available from: .

9. 9. Tanaka T, Nonaka GI, Nishioka I. Punicafolin, an ellagitannin from the leaves of Punica granatum. Phytochemistry [Internet]. 1985 Jan 1;24(9):2075–8. Available from: .
10. 10. Wang R, Ding Y, Liu R, Xiang L, Du L. Pomegranate: Constituents, bioactivities and pharmacokinetics. Fruit, Veg Cereal Sci Biotechnol [Internet]. 2010;4(2):77–87. Available from: .
11. 11. Bagri P, Ali M, Aeri V, Bhowmik M, Sultana S. Antidiabetic effect of Punica granatum flowers: Effect on hyperlipidemia, pancreatic cells lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in experimental diabetes. Food Chem Toxicol [Internet]. 2009 Jan 1;47(1):50–4. Available from: .
12. 12. Gosset-Erard C, Zhao M, Lordel-Madeleine S, Ennahar S. Identification of punicalagin as the bioactive compound behind the antimicrobial activity of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peels. Food Chem [Internet]. 2021 Aug 1;352:129396. Available from: .
13. 13. Khwairakpam AD, Bordoloi D, Thakur KK, Monisha J, Arfuso F, Sethi G, et al. Possible use of Punica granatum (Pomegranate) in cancer therapy. Pharmacol Res [Internet]. 2018 Jul 1;133:53–64. Available from: .
14. 14. Gracious Ross R, Selvasubramanian S, Jayasundar S. Immunomodulatory activity of Punica granatum in rabbits—a preliminary study. J Ethnopharmacol [Internet]. 2001 Nov 1;78(1):85–7. Available from: .
15. 15. Zeghad N, Ahmed E, Belkhiri A, Heyden Y Vander, Demeyer K. Antioxidant activity of Vitis vinifera, Punica granatum, Citrus aurantium and Opuntia ficus indica fruits cultivated in Algeria. Heliyon [Internet]. 2019 Apr 1;5(4):e01575. Available from: .
16. 16. Tekin Z, Kucukbay FZ. Pomegranate leaves, buds, and flowers: phytochemical, antioxidant, and comparative solvent analyzes. Foods Raw Mater [Internet]. 2024 May 23;13(1):155–71. Available from: .
17. 17. Kılıç CS, Demirci B, Kırcı D, Duman H, Gürbüz İ. Essential oils of Ferulago glareosa Kandemir&Hedge roots and aerial parts: PCA and HCA analyses. Chem Biodivers [Internet]. 2023 May 18;20(5):e202300364. Available from: .
18. 18. McLafferty F, Stauffer D. The Wiley/NBS registry of mass spectral data. New York; 1989.
19. 19. Hochmuth D. MassFinder 4.0, Hochmuth scientific consulting. Hamburg, Germany; 2008.
20. 20. Hadrich F, Cher S, Gargouri YT, Adel S. Antioxidant and lipase inhibitory activities and essential oil composition of pomegranate peel extracts. J Oleo Sci [Internet]. 2014;63(5):515–25. Available from: .
21. 21. Ara KM, Raofie F. Application of response surface methodology for the optimization of supercritical fluid extraction of essential oil from pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peel. J Food Sci Technol [Internet]. 2016 Jul 22;53(7):3113–21. Available from: .
22. 22. Wahba TF. Antifeedant activity of three essential oils and their nanoemulsions against the rice weevil Sitophilus oryzae (L.). Egypt Sci J Pestic [Internet]. 2020;6(2):19–31. Available from: .
23. 23. Gültepe N, M.I. Bufrag S, Abughadyra IRA, A.O. Mohammed K, Alkhunni SBA. Comparison of some medicinal plants and macrofungi essential oil components for antimicrobial activity against the human and fish pathogens. Int J Curr Microbiol Appl Sci [Internet]. 2019 Nov 20;8(11):458–73. Available from: .
24. 24. Iriti G, Bonacci S, Lopreiato V, Frisina M, Oliverio M, Procopio A. Functional compounds of cold-pressed pomegranate seed oil: Fatty acids and phytosterols profile as quality biomarkers for origin discrimination. Foods [Internet]. 2023 Jul 5;12(13):2599. Available from: .
25. 25. Gök A, Uyar H, Demir Ö. Pomegranate seed oil extraction by cold pressing, microwave and ultrasound treatments. Biomass Convers Biorefinery [Internet]. 2024 Apr 15;Article in Press. Available from: .