Biologically active substances of aboveground mass of Artemisia salsoloides Willd.

A comprehensive study of rare plant species allows to determine the possibility of their cultivation in botanical gardens (preservation ex situ) as potential sources of valuable raw materials. Artemisia salsoloides Willd. is a semi-shrub of Asteraceae. It is a rare species which has been listed in the Red book of the Russian Federation (category 3). The actual area of the species covers the South-East of the Russian plain, Kazakhstan, the south part of Western Siberia, the east regions of Ukraine; it has a relict character and is associated with the zone of semi-desert and bunchgrass steppes. The aboveground biomass of Artemisia salsoloides, which grows in natural conditions in the steppe communities in the Volgograd region of the Russian Federation, contains essential oil, the mass fraction of which is 0.1% of fresh weight. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation in a Ginsburg type apparatus from dry raw material collected in the flowering phase of plants (July 2018). The component composition was studied on Agilent Technology 6890N chromatograph with mass spectrometric detector 5973N. The essential oil has a bright yellow color and a balsamic aroma. The biochemical composition of the obtained oil mostly consists of sesquiterpenes, the main of which is a cyclohexane sesquiterpene - spathulenol and its isomer isospathulenol. Mass part of these components was 37%. Spathulenol is of interest as an inhibitor of P-glycoprotein with prospects of application in antitumor therapy. It is characteristic of essential oils of hyssop, laurel, lemon verbena, marjoram, lemon geranium, but most often it presents in very low concentrations - its mass fraction does not exceed 1%. In addition to the dominant sesquiterpenes, the oil of Artemisia salsoloides contains 6.15% geranyl acetate, 4.98% limonene, giving aromatic value, as well as 5.4% camphor and about 2% 1,8-cineol - all these components are of the pharmacological antimicrobial activity. The obtained data allow us to characterize Artemisia salsoloides as a plant that accumulates essential oil with a valuable component composition of the pharmacological activity.