The genus Lonicera (Caprifoliaceae) comprises of 200 species with 21 growing in Kazakhstan. The genus includes shrubs with both climbing and non-climbing sprouts. The fruits of most species are either inedible or poisonous (1). The present work aimed to investigate two Lonicera species. Lonicera iliensis Pojark. and L. altaica Pall, ex DC collected in different vegetation stages for chemical composition of the essential oils. These species belong to subsection of blue honeysuckles Caernleae Rehd. (section Isika Rehd ). both of them have edible fruits (2-4). Flowrer. leaf at blooming and fruiting stages and fruits of two Lonicera species were hydrodistilled with Clevenger type apparatus to obtain essential oils. Chemical compositions of the oils were investigated by GC-FID and GC/MS techniques. Detected constituents were classified as monoterpenes. sesquiteipenes. alkanes, phenylpropanoids. fatty acids, aldehydes and alcohols.
Quantitative and qualitative diversity depending on species, organ and phase of development of the plants have been detected. A high abundance of alkanes (17.1—44.5%) wras detected in the volatiles of all the L. iliensis organs investigated. In the flowers, leaves at blooming stage and fruits of L. altaica alkanes were found as dominating group. However, alkanes have not been detected m the leaf oil of L. altaica collected at fruiting stage. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons wrere the distinguishing characteristic in the volatiles of L. altaica leaves at fruiting stage while oxygenated monoterpenes were in high percentages in the leaves at blooming stage. The flowers of L. iliensis and L. altaica have been found to be rich by oxygenated sesquiterpenes (21.0 and 15.0%, respectively) with hexahydrofamesyl acetone as the major representative. The present wrork is the first contribution into chemistry of volatiles of Lonicera species growing in Kazakhstan.
Chemical composition of Lonicera species from Kazakhstan