Zohreh Habibi, Yahya Hejazi and Siyamak Alipour, Shiva Masoudi, Abdolhossein Rustaiyan*

Abstract: Water-distilled essential oils from the aerial parts of Tanacetum elburensis Mozaff. and Tanacetum persicum (Boiss.) Mozaff. were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Thirty-one compounds representing 90.7% of the oil of T.elburensis were identified, among which menthyl isovalerate (20.0%) and 1,8-cineole (16.6%) were the major. The oil of T.persicum was characterized by higher amounts of borneol (24.3%), menthyl acetate (17.3%), isobornyl2-methyl butyrate (16.0%) and artedouglasia oxide D (14.3%) among the twenty-two components comprising 91.8% of the total oil detected. Both oils were richer in oxygenated monoterpenes than sesquiterpenes.

The flora of Iran comprises 26 species of <i>Tanacetum</i>, of which 12 are endemic (1,2). Some members of the genus <i>Tanacetum</i> have traditionally been used in balsams, cosmetics, dyes, insecticides, medicines and have been found to act as a preservatives and are used in herbal remedies (3,4). They have also been used as anti-helmintic for migraine ,neuralgia rheumatism and loss of appetite (5). According to recent studies, the oils and extracts of members of the <i>Tanacetum</i> genus exhibit anti-inflammatory (6,7), antibacterial (8), antifungal (9) and insecticidal effects (10). The terpenes in the essential oil are thought to associated with the biological activity of <i>Tanacetum</i>. With respect to <i>T.parthenium</i>, many studies have been found that relate to the sesquiterpene lactone parthenolide and flavonoids, to the strong biological activity (11,12). Previous chemical investigations on different Iranian species of <i>Tanacetum</i> have shown that they possess sesquiterpene lactones (13,14) and essential oils (15–17). The essential oil of <i>Tanacetum</i> fruticulosum was investigated by GC, GC/MS and NMR spectroscopy. Some new farnesyl derivatives were identified by their NMR spectra (18). This communication deals with the chemical compositions of the hydrodistilled oils of <i>T. elburensis</i> and <i>T. persicum</i> of Iranian origin for the first time.