Chemical Characterization of the Essential Oil from Aerial Parts of Astragalus Maximus from Northwest of Iran

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition of essential oil of the aerial parts of Astragalus Maximus. Methods: The essential oil from the areal parts of Astragalus Maximus was isolated by hydrodistillation method and the composition of the volatiles was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) method combined with flameionization detector (FID) and mass spectrometry (MS). Results and discussion: A total of 17 components accounting for 90.35% were identified using similarity searches between the mass spectra databases. The major components were identified as, Myristcin (29.4%), Benzaldehyde,3-methyl (15.3%), 1-Tridecanol (10.9%), Acetophenone (10.7%), 2-Pentadecanone, 6,10,14-trimethyl (7.9%) and Phytol (2.3%). All of the identified compounds are Non-terpenoids and Myristcin with 29.4% was found the most abundant component of the essential oil of the areal parts of Astragalus Maximus. Conclusion: In general, results of the present investigation revealed that essential oil of Astragalus Maximus contains higher quantities of Non-terpenoid compounds. Keywords: Astragalus Maximus; Essential oils; Gas chromatography