title: Volatile fingerprints of artemisinin-rich Artemisia annua cultivars by headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry.
abstract: The cultivar Anamed (A3) is a hybrid of Artemisia annua with a high content of the secondary metabolite artemisinin, a well-known antimalarial drug. Here we report for the first time the volatile profile of fresh leaves of this hybrid in comparison with that of Artemisia annua L. wild-type species. Evaluation and comparison of the volatile profiles of A. annua genotypes with different content in artemisinin were carried out by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) that was performed on fresh leaves of the plants under investigation using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber. The chromatograms obtained from hybrids with a high content of artemisinin (A. annua cv. Anamed A3 and A. annua cv. Artemis F2) reveal the total absence of artemisia ketone, one of the major and characteristic compounds of the wild-type A. annua L., along with a significantly lower variety of volatile compounds. In conclusion, HS-SPME coupled with GC/MS is a very useful, non-destructive and efficient method to describe the volatile pattern of Artemisia annua cultivars. It represents a rapid screening method for the evaluation of volatile biomarkers like artemisia ketone, whose absence is typical of artemisinin-rich A. annua cultivars.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Material, University of L'Aquila, L'Aquila (AQ), Italy. samantha.reale@univaq.it
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reale
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fasciani
authors.forename: Loretta
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pace
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Angelis
authors.forename: Giordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marcozzi
mesh_terms: D031172:Artemisia annua / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000032:analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000032:analysis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D052617:Solid Phase Microextraction / Q000379:methods*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D037621:Artemisinins; D039821:Monoterpenes; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; C494252:artemisia ketone; C031327:artemisinin