Session: Parallel session 9 - Top-down and Structural analysis
Volatile compounds from the Corsican Liverwort Porella arboris-vitae: chemical diversity and bioactivity
Bryophytes are the second largest group of extant land plants, distributed all over the world comprising approximately about 25000 species, they estimated at 1800 in Europe and 1400-1300 species in France. Based on morphological and molecular traits, bryophytes are classified into three coordinate phyla: Marchantiophyta (liverworts), Bryophyta (mosses), and Anthocerophyta (horworts).
To our knowledge, the bryophytes of Corsica have been the subject of only few phytochemical studies carried out earlier by our group.
The family Porellacea includes about 60 species of liverworts with a worldwide distribution. The large genus is represented in Corsica by four species: P. arboris vitae (=P. laevigata), P. platyphylla, P. obtusata, and P. cordaena. Our study focused on Porella arboris-vitae, a liverwort, due to its availability and accessibility.
The identification of components began with a methodology that compared retention indices, on polar and apolar columns, and those contained in the in-house library or commercial libraries. Following this preliminary analysis, components matched by standards from the in-house library were considered as definitely identified while components matched only by commercial library database needed identification-confirmation. So, column chromatography and additional NMR experiments were carried out to achieve an unambiguous compound identification, as well as the complete NMR assignment.
P. arboris-vitae chemical composition analysis identified 59 metabolites, mainly oxygenated terpenes, particularly drimanes and pinguisanes compounds. Among its metabolites, we described a new alcohol as a new natural compound for the first time.
A study of the allelopathic activity of the extracts revealed the presence of phytotoxins in this plant. Sesquiterpenes lactones present in the essential oil, hydrosols and ether extracts seem to play a predominant role in its activity, though other terpenes and molecules are also involved.
To our knowledge, the bryophytes of Corsica have been the subject of only few phytochemical studies carried out earlier by our group.
The family Porellacea includes about 60 species of liverworts with a worldwide distribution. The large genus is represented in Corsica by four species: P. arboris vitae (=P. laevigata), P. platyphylla, P. obtusata, and P. cordaena. Our study focused on Porella arboris-vitae, a liverwort, due to its availability and accessibility.
The identification of components began with a methodology that compared retention indices, on polar and apolar columns, and those contained in the in-house library or commercial libraries. Following this preliminary analysis, components matched by standards from the in-house library were considered as definitely identified while components matched only by commercial library database needed identification-confirmation. So, column chromatography and additional NMR experiments were carried out to achieve an unambiguous compound identification, as well as the complete NMR assignment.
P. arboris-vitae chemical composition analysis identified 59 metabolites, mainly oxygenated terpenes, particularly drimanes and pinguisanes compounds. Among its metabolites, we described a new alcohol as a new natural compound for the first time.
A study of the allelopathic activity of the extracts revealed the presence of phytotoxins in this plant. Sesquiterpenes lactones present in the essential oil, hydrosols and ether extracts seem to play a predominant role in its activity, though other terpenes and molecules are also involved.