Chemical diversity of the essential oils of Artemisia sieberi in Iran

Artemisia sieberi is widely distributed in the desert and semi-desert regions of Iran. We collected samples from different parts of Iran and proceeded to extract and analyse their essential oils using hydrodistillation and GC-MS, respectively. Among seventy-two compounds identified within the oils, the hydrocarbon and oxygenated monoterpenoids, trans-thujone (0.0–22.9%), cis-thujane (0.0–47.3%), 1, 8-cineole (0.7–37.1%), camphor (0.0–46.4%), santolinyl acetate (0–33.8%) and cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (0.0–16.4%) and the sesquiterpenoid, davanone (0.0–59.6%), were reported as the predominant components from the 17-accession. The above-mentioned GC-MS analytical results in conjunction with chemometric calculations, including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Clustering Analysis (HCA), suggested 6 chemical groups of A. sieberi collected from the Northern to the Southern parts of Iran. The chemical classification of EOs were based on the sum of concentration of terpenoids with distinct C-skeletons, but not individual constituents. These distinct groups include the species predominant in, I: thujane, II: davanone, III: davanone and bornane, IV: p-menthane, V: bornane and VI: irregular monoterpenoids. The trace or less distributed phytochemicals are also suggested to divide the A. sieberi into two main group of sesquiterpene and monoterpene producers.