Solvent- and Organ-dependent Chemical Profiling of Passiflora caerulea L. Extracts by GC-MS

Abstract

The chemical composition of sequential hexane and chloroform extracts obtained from the flowers (F), leaves (L), and thin stems (S) of Passiflora caerulea (PC) harvested during summer were investigated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The total percentages of identified compounds in the hexane extracts were 39.4%, 22.5%, and 31.8% for the flower, leaf, and stem, respectively, whereas the corresponding values for the chloroform extracts were 70.3%, 43.7%, and 62.2%. In the hexane extracts, ethyl linoleolate was the predominant constituent in the flower extract (14.9%), while linoleic acid (17.6%) was the major constituent of the stem extract. 1,2-Epoxynonadecane was detected as a notable constituent of the flower and leaf hexane extracts (4.9% and 3.8%), respectively. In the chloroform extracts, linoleic acid was the predominant constituent in the stem extract (22.0%), whereas n-hexadecanoic acid was the major constituent in the flower and stem extracts (10.5% and 12.1%), respectively. The leaf chloroform extract contained a notable proportion of 1,2-epoxynonadecane (13.4%) and vitamin E (9.9%). Furthermore, heptacosane (7.5%), γ-sitosterol (6.6%), 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)- (6.3%), nonacosane (5.2%), were the major constituents in the flower chloroform extract. Overall, the extracts exhibited distinct chemical profiles depending on plant organ and extraction solvent, with fatty acids, fatty acid esters, terpenoids, and tocopherols constituting the major classes of identified compounds.