Chemical Composition and General Toxicity of Essential Oil Extracted from the Stalks and Flowers of Rheum Ribes L. Growing in Iran

authors:

avatar Mohammad Reza Nikbakht 1 , avatar Solmaz Esnaashari 2 , avatar Fariba Heshmati Afshar 3 , *

Novel Drug Delivery Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, I.R. Iran
Drug Applied Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, I.R. Iran
Medical Philosophy and History Research Center and Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, I.R. Iran
Journal of Reports in Pharmaceutical Sciences: Vol.2, issue 2; 165-170
published online: November 12, 2013
article type: Research Article
received: October 14, 2013
revised: October 28, 2013
accepted: November 09, 2013

how to cite: Nikbakht M R, Esnaashari S, Heshmati Afshar F. Chemical Composition and General Toxicity of Essential Oil Extracted from the Stalks and Flowers of Rheum Ribes L. Growing in Iran. J Rep Pharm Sci. 2013;2(2):e147750. 

Abstract

The essential oil of Rheum ribes L. stalks and flowers, growing in Iran, were extracted with hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC-MS. Thirty constituents representing 93.84% of Rheum oil were identified. The oil was found to be rich in hydrocarbons especially long-chain n-alkanes (80.81%). The most abundant components in the oil included tricosane (26.29%), heneicosane (26.07%), pentacosane (10.63%), heptacosane (10.37%) and palmitic acid (3.64%). The essential oil was also evaluated for general toxicity bioassay using brine shrimp lethality method. The toxicity profile of the oil indicated some degree of toxicity in comparison with podophyllotoxin.