FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL

Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 227–229

DOI: 10.1002/ffj.989

The essential oil composition of Salvia argentea L.

M. Couladis,1∗ O. Tzakou,1 D. Stojanovic2 N. Mimica-Dukic3 and R. Jancic2
1 Department of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacognosy, University of Athens, Panepistimioupolis Zografou, 157 71 Athens, Greece
2 Department of Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia
3 Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia

Received 24 July 2000

Revised 12 January 2001
Accepted 16 January 2001

ABSTRACT: The essential oil of Salvia argentea L., collected from south-eastern Serbia, was analysed by
GC–MS. Forty-seven constituents were identified. The oil was characterized by a high content of sesquiterpenes.
The major constituents were viridiflorol (32.4%), manool (14.6%) and ˛-humulene (10.7%). Copyright  2001
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS: Salvia argentea L.; Lamiaceae; essential oil composition; viridiflorol; manool; ˛-humulene

Introduction specimens have been taxonomically determined and

The genus Salvia is one of the largest members of the
family Lamiaceae (subfamily Nepetoideae), comprising
more than 500 species. In the European flora the genus
is represented by 36 species.1 In Yugoslavia, 14 species
are reported, distributed in the coastal and submediter-
ranean areas of Montenegro and the continental area of
the southern, south-eastern and northern parts of Ser-
bia. Although Salvia species are of great scientific and
commercial interest, in Serbia and Montenegro most of
wild-growing species are still unexplored. In order to
give a scientific contribution to the distribution and char-
acterization of Salvia spp. in the Balkan Peninsula, we
recently started detailed taxonomic and chemical studies
of Salvia spp. in Serbia and Montenegro.2,3 Members of
the genus Salvia have been shown to possess a signifi-
cant array of pharmacological properties.4 – 7
In the framework of our investigations on the oils of
Salvia species,8,9 we report in this study the chemical
constituents of the essential oil of S. argentea, which
belongs to section Aethiopis Benth.1 To the best of
our knowledge there is only one previous report on the
composition of S. argentea growing in Morocco.10
Experimental
Collection of Plant Material
S. argentea was collected during the flowering period
of May 1998 in south-eastern Serbia (Pirot). Voucher
*Correspondence to: M. Couladis, University of Athens, Depart-
ment of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmacognosy Panepistimioupolis
Zografou 157 71 Athens, Greece. E-mail: kouladi@pharm.uoa.gr
deposited at the Department of Botany, Faculty of Phar-
macy, at Belgrade University.
Isolation of Essential Oils
Air-dried leaves and inflorescences were cut into small
pieces and were subjected to hydrodistillation for 3 h,
using a modified Clevenger-type apparatus with a
water-cooled oil receiver to reduce hydrodistillation
artifacts. The oil obtained (0.049% yield) was dried over
anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored at 4–6 ° C until
analysed.
Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry
GC–MS analysis was carried out using a Hewlett-
Packard 5973-6890 GC–MS system operating in EI
mode at 70 eV, equipped with a split–splitless injec-
tor (200 ° C) and a flame ionization detector (250 ° C).
He was used as carrier gas (1 ml/min) and the capil-
lary columns used were a HP 5MS (30 m ð 0.25 mm;
film thickness 0.25 µm) and a HP Innowax (30 m ð
0.25 mm; film thickness 0.50 µm). The temperature
programmes were 60 ° C to 280 ° C at a rate of 3 ° C/min
and 60–260 ° C at a rate of 3 ° C/min, respectively; split
ratio, 1 : 10.
Identification of the Components
The identification of the chemical constituents was based
on comparison of their Kováts indices (KI), retention

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

228 M. COULADIS ET AL.

times (RT) and mass spectra with those obtained from
authentic samples (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo,
USA) and/or the NIST/NBS, Wiley libraries and the
literature.11
Results and Discussion
The complete oil chemical composition is summa-
rized in Table 1. Forty-seven components were detected.
Sesquiterpenes were the major class of compounds.
Dominant sesquiterpenes were viridiflorol (32.4%) and
˛-humulene (10.7%). Spathulenol (4.0%), humulene
epoxide II (2.3%) and (E)-caryophyllene (2.0%) were
registered in lower quantities. Among monoterpenes,
cis-thujone (7.4%), trans-thujone (1.7%) and 1,8-cineol
(3.1%) were detected in high quantities. Besides the
terpenoids, tetradecanoic acid (3.6%), phytol (1.2%),
heptacosane (2.4%) and nonacosane (1.6%) were also
detected. It is worth mentioning that the main com-
pounds of S. argentea from Morocco were the monoter-
penes camphor (45.1%), camphene (19.4%) and ˛-
pinene (9.3%).10 Interesting is the high percentage of
manool (14.6%), showing a significant difference from
the commercially-used S. sclarea (0.55%,12 2.5%13 ),

Table 1. Composition of the essential oil of Salvia argentea L.

Constituents RIŁ RIŁŁ (%) Identification

˛-Pinene 937 1029 0.5 GC–MS, Co–GC
Camphene 953 1060 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Benzaldehyde 963 t GC–MS
ˇ-Pinene 986 1113 t GC–MS, Co–GC
p-Cymene 1024 1024 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Limonene 1030 1201 t GC–MS, Co–GC
1,8-Cineole 1034 1221 3.1 GC–MS, Co–GC
(Z)-ˇ-Ocimene 1041 t GC–MS
Benzene acetaldehyde 1042 0.6 GC–MS
-Terpinene 1057 1245 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Linalool 1100 1535 t GC–MS, Co–GC
cis-Thujone 1106 1422 7.3 GC–MS, Co–GC
trans-Thujone 1115 1442 1.7 GC–MS, Co–GC
Camphor 1145 1522 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Borneol 1168 1696 0.9 GC–MS, Co–GC
Terpinen-4-ol 1177 1592 t GC–MS, Co–GC
˛-Terpineol 1190 1683 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Bornyl acetate 1288 1590 t GC–MS
Thymol 1289 2172 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Carvacrol 1299 2219 t GC–MS, Co–GC
˛-Cubebene 1350 1456 t GC–MS
Eugenol 1357 t GC–MS
(E,E)-2,4-Decadienal 1313 t GC–MS
˛-Copaene 1375 1492 t GC–MS
(E)-Caryophyllene 1418 1599 2.0 GC–MS, Co–GC
˛-Humulene 1456 1705 10.7 GC–MS
allo-Aromadendrene 1461 1660 t GC–MS
-Muurolene 1475 1695 t GC–MS
-Curcumene 1479 t GC–MS
Germacrene D 1480 1710 t GC–MS
ar-Curcumene 1483 1784 t GC–MS
ˇ-(E)-Ionone 1486 1938 1.0 GC–MS
Valencene 1494 t GC–MS
-Cadinene 1512 1765 t GC–MS, Co–GC
cis-Calamenene 1520 1840 t GC–MS
υ-Cadinene 1524 1761 t GC–MS, Co–GC
Spathulenol 1579 2151 4.0 GC–MS, Co–GC
Viridiflorol 1592 2110 32.4 GC–MS
Humulene epoxide II 1604 2010 2.3 GC–MS
1-epi-Cubenol 1629 2026 t GC–MS
ˇ-Eudesmol 1650 2240 0.7 GC–MS
Tetradecanoic acid 1700 3.6 GC–MS
Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone 1969 3.5 GC–MS
Manool 2055 14.6 GC–MS, Co–GC
Phytola 1.2
Heptacosane 2.4
Nonacosane 1.6

RI, retention indices relative to C9 –C24 n-alkanes on the HP 5MS columnŁ and on the HP Innowax
capillary columnŁŁ .15 %, relative percentage obtained from peak area. GC–MS, comparison of mass
spectra with MS libraries. Co–GC, comparison with authentic compounds. t D trace, <0.1%.
a
correct isomer not identified.

Copyright  2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 227–229

which belongs to the same section. This report is the
first on the composition of the essential oil of S. argentea
from Serbia. Considering the effect of the environmen-
tal factors14 on the variability of the essential oil, further
studies of this species are necessary.
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Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 227–229