Rosemary components

Offord, E.A., Mace, K., Ruffieux, C., Malnoe, A. and Pfeifer, A.M. 1995. Rosemary components inhibit benzo(a)pyrene-induced genotoxicity in human bronchial cells. Carcinogenesis. 16 2057-2062. 

Offord, E.A. etal., Rosemary components inhibit benzo[a]pyrene-induced genotoxicity in... 

The inhibition of skin carcinogenesis by rosemary and its constituents, camosol and ursolic acid, has been demonstrated by Huang et al. (/). Furthermore, the suppression of rat mammary tumorigenesis induced by DMBA has been demonstrated by Singletary et al. (29). Meanwhile, the formation of mammary DMBA-DNA adducts in vivo was dose-dependently inhibited by camosol and ursolic acid (29). Rosemary components have the potential to decrease activation and increase detoxification of benzo(a)pyrene, identifying them as promising chemopreventive agents (30). 

Source Major component in pine oil (quoted, Verschueren, 1983). Also present in a variety of rosemary shoots (330-3,290 ppm) (Soriano-Cano et al., 1993), anise-scented basil leaves (1,785 ppm) (Brophy et al, 1993), Iberian savory leaves (2,660 ppm) (Arrebola et al., 1994), African blue basil shoots (7,000 ppm), Greek sage (160-5,040 ppm). Montane Mountain mint (3,395-3,880 ppm), yarrow leaves (45-1,780 ppm), and coriander (100-1,300 ppm) (Duke, 1992). 

Klein E, RojahnW, (-l-)-Verbenone—A newly discovered component of Spanish rosemary oil, Dragoco Report 14 75—76, 1967. 

Most ketones found in essential oils are toxic when isolated compounds are used. However, many oils high in ketones are considered safe to use for example, camphor is found in Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) at 15-30% and in Lavandula intermedia (also known as Lavandula hybrida) (lavandin) at 5-15%, and carvone is the main component of Mentha spicata (spearmint) at up to 70%. 

A chemotype describes the subspecies of a plant that have the same morphological characteristics (relating to form and structure) but produce different quantities of chemical components in their essential oils. This again is widespread within the botanical family classification of the Labiatae or Lamiaceae. Examples of plants producing essential oils with different chemotypes include lavender, melissa, peppermint, basil, rosemary, sage and thyme. 

There are three principal chemotypes verbenone, 1,8-cineole and cam-phor-borneol. These are examples of variation due to the climate they are grown in and are also called cultivars. The names of the cultivars are not Latinized and appear after the species name, often within quotation marks. For example, Lavandula angustifolia Maillette is a type of lavender named after its originator. For rosemary the cultivars are named after their country of origin. As a consequence of this, the verbenone is also called French, the 1,8-cineole is called Tunisian and the camphor-borneol is called Spanish. A comparison of these in terms of their amounts of main components is shown in Table 7.2. 

Examinations of the volatile constituents of the rosemary oils resulted in the conclusion that distilled and SFE product contain the same components. Although the concentrations are different in the products somewhat higher levels of more volatile components (pinene, camphene) were found in the distilled oil. While the concentrations of camphor and verbenon were higher in SFE product. 

Major components and percentage composition (w/w%) of rosemary oil subsequent samples (Run 6) ... 

In the case of Rosemary leaves, the values of De required varied more widely with temperature and pressure (values range from about 2.3xl013 mV1 at 50°C and 100 bar, 7xl013 mV1 at 40°C and 100 bar to 3xl012 mV1 at 40°C and 250 bar).We believe that the physically unreasonable rise in De with pressure at 40°C may be due to incomplete miscibility of some of the extracted components with supercritical C02 at 100 bar with consequent break down in model I for this herb at this pressure. However when De was fitted at each pressure and temperature considered a good representation of the data was obtained. 

Table VIII shows the dramatic differences between fresh and dried leaves. In this case, as oj sed to peppermint, rosemary and thyme, trans-2-hexenal is more in the fresh than in the dried and aged. The same is true for phenyl ethyl alcohol. Interestingly, trans-cinnamic aldehyde constitutes 50% of the total living headspace volatiles, but it is still less than in the aged leaf and commercial oil. However, cinnaniyl alcohol represents 20% of the fresh volatiles but is only a trace conpcanent of the aged leaf and oil. 4-Methoxy cinnamic aldehyde, identified as a cassia constituent for the first time, also increases 3-fold on drying but has disappeared completely in the comtnercial oil. 2-Methoxy cinnamic aldehyde, sometimes called the character impact component of cassia oil, is present in the headspace of the leaves to only a minor extent but it is the second most abundant component of the oil.

Main components 1-3% essential oil, rosemary acid (primarily responsible for the antioxidating effect of sweet marjoram), ursolic and oleanolic acid, phenols like arbutin [152], flavonoids [153, 154]. 

Main components 1.5-2.5% essential oil, rosemarinic acid (see rosemary), flavonoids [266, 267], tannins, oleanolic and ursolic acid. 

Fig. 3.67 Natural antioxidant components in rosemary and sage extracts...

Walker DFG, Bartle KD, Breen DGPA, Clifford AA, Costiou S. Quantitative method for the analysis of flavour and fragrance components from lavender and rosemary for studying the kinetics of their supercritical fluid extraction. Analyst 1994 119 2789-2793. 

Terpineol, or more strictly, a-terpineol (3.38), is one of the most widespread of monocyclic monoterpenoid alcohols in nature. It is found in flowers such as narcissus and freesia herbs such as sage, marjoram, oregano and rosemary in the leaf oil of Ti-tree Melaleuca alternifolia) and in the oil expressed from the peel of lemons. Reports of the level of terpineol in oils occasionally vary considerably and one wonders how much this is due to variations in the plants and to variations in the isolation process since terpineol could be an artefact. The layman will often describe the odour of terpineol as pine disinfectant since terpineol is, in fact a major component of pine disinfectant. This product is prepared by distillation of turpentine in the presence of acid which results in opening of the ring of a-pinene (3.37) to produce a-terpineol as shown in Figure 3.19. 

Since the work of Chfford et al., several studies of the small-scale extraction of essential components have been made and the work and methods have been reviewed [62-64]. Work has been carried out on eucalyptus [65] peppermint [66, 67], savory [67], laurel [68] and Thymbria spicata [69]. These reach similar conclusions to those made above for rosemary, wild marjoram and clove and in some cases comparisons with steam distillation and other methods have been made [58, 60, 61, 66, 68]. In addition to essential oil components, work is also being carried out on the extraction of compounds for analytical purposes [70, 71], including the extraction of metals [72, 73]. Other extractions of medical and industrial interest are being car-... 

Debersac, P. et al. Effects of a water-soluble extract of rosemary and its purified component rosmarinic acid on xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes in rat liver. Food Chem. Toxicol, 39,109,... 

As shown by recent studies, a number of natural extracts from selected herbs (such as rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme), which were found to be rich in polyphenols, flavonoids, and other compounds, have been well proved to be effective in retarding the development of rancidity in oils and fatty acids. Indeed, the activity of the natural extracts has been found to be dependent, among other factors, on the type and polarity of the extraction solvent, the isolation procedures, and the active components from the raw materials."" ... 

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