Comparative study of essential oil and extracts from Artemisia herba-alba Asso. growing wild in Lebanon

The aim of the present study was to investigate the chemical composition of the essential oil and extracts of Artemisia herba-alba Asso., a traditional plant growing wild in Bekaa-Hermel, Lebanon. The essential oil from fresh aerial parts were extracted by hydrodistillation or extraction by ethanol or acetone. Both essential oil and extracts were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Results show that the chemical profile of the obtained oil and extracts (ethanolic and acetonic) was dominated by oxygenated monoterpenes with alpha-pinene (45.89%), borneol (11.3%), 1,8-cineole (10.8%) being the major compounds in the oil and camphene (15.71%), myrtenal (6.47%), m-cymene (5.97%) in the ethanolic extract, while camphor (32.91%), 1,8-cineole (9.98%) and borneol (6.78%) were dominant in the acetone extract. The identified compounds could be a potential natural source for food preservation and flavoring and for further investigation to develop new bioactive substances.