Chemical Composition of the Methanolic Extract From the Aerial Parts of Ferula haussknechtii Wolff ex Rech.f. From Iran

The genus Ferula is represented in the Flora of Iran by 30 species, including 15 endemic [1]. The resins of the plant have been used in China as a remedy for malaria and dysentery and also as an insecticide. Othermedical uses are also reported, such as sedative, antispasmodic, for toothache, asthma, cough, epilepsy, fever, irritable colon, as an antihystericfor feminine sterility, and against rheumatism. A large number of studies have concerned the genus Ferula and reported newly identified compounds extracted by solvent. The reported compounds are mainly coumarin derivatives and sesquiterpene alcohol esters, most of which are aromatic esters bearing the daucane skeleton [2]. Few studies have reported the chemical composition of Ferula essential oils. The aerial parts of Ferula haussknechtii was collected from Ilam, in July 2015. Voucher specimens have been deposited at the Herbarium of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (TARI), Tehran, Iran.The methanolic extract of the air-dried aerial parts of the plant was obtained by percolation method. The extract was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Sixteen components were identified in the extract of F.haussknechtii representing 85.4% of the total components detected. The major compounds of methanolic extract were (Z) -α- atlantone (20.8%) and (E) -α- atlantone (19.2%) followed by iso menthyl lactate (7.9%), neo- menthyl lactate (5.9%), (Z) – menthyl jasmonate (5.7%) and hexadecane (5.4%).Water distilled oil obtained from the aerial parts of F. szowitsiana has been the subject of our previous studies. α- Pinene (12.6%), germacrene D (12.5%) and β- pinene (10.1%) were found to be the major constituents [3].