Chemical constituents from the petioles and leaves of Aquilaria sinensis

Agarwood is the resinous wood produced in some Aquilaria species and is highly valued for wide usages in medicine, incense, and perfume. To protect the threatened Aquilaria species, the cultivation of Aquilaria sinensis and artificial agarwood induction techniques have been effectively established in China. To evaluate the quality of agarwood induced by different techniques, patterns of chemical constituents in artificial agarwood by four methods (wounding using an axe, burning-chisel-drilling, chemical inducer, and biological inoculation) were analyzed and compared by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS and GC-EI-MS in this study. Results of GC-MS gave a panorama of chemical constituents in agarwood, including aromatic compounds, steroids, fatty acids, sesquiterpenoids, and 2-(2-phenlyethyl)-chromones (PECs). Sesquiterpenoids were dominant in agarwood induced by wounding using an axe. PEC comprised over 60% of components in agarwood produced by biological inoculation and chemical inducers. PECs were identified by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS in all artificial agarwood and the relative contents varied in different groups. Tetrahydro-2-(2-phenylethyl)-chromones (THPECs) in wounding by axes induced agarwood were lower while 2-(2-phenylethyl)-chromones (FPECs) were higher than other groups. The results showed that methods used for inducing agarwood formation in Aquilaria sinensis affect the chemical constituents of agarwood.

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Chemical Constituents and Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Incense Smoke from Agarwood Determined by GC-MS

International Journal of Analytical Chemistry ◽

10.1155/2020/4575030 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-19

Author(s):

De-Qian Peng ◽

Zhang-Xin Yu ◽

Can-Hong Wang ◽

Bao Gong ◽

Yang-Yang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Aromatic Compounds ◽

Chemical Constituents ◽

Chemical Components ◽

Low Molecular Weight ◽

Aquilaria Sinensis ◽

Tnf Α ◽

Pleasant Odor ◽

Anti Inflammatory ◽

Whole Tree ◽

Inflammatory Effect

Agarwood is generally used to make incense sticks in China and Southeast Asia. It emits smoke with a pleasant odor when burned. There are few reports on the chemical components of smoke generated by burning or heating agarwood. The agarwoods were produced by the whole-tree agarwood-inducing technique (AWIT), agarwood induced by axe wounds (AAW), burning-chisel-drilling agarwood (BCDA), wood of Aquilaria sinensis trees (AS), respectively. Herein, we used GC-MS to analyze the chemical constituents of incense smoke generated from AWIT, AAW, BCDA, AS, and the extracts of sticks from agarwood produced by the whole-tree agarwood-inducing technique (EAWIT), and 484 compounds were identified. A total of 61 chemical constituents were shared among AWIT, AAW, and BCDA. The experimental data showed that aromatic compounds were the main chemical constituents in agarwood smoke and that some chromone derivatives could be cracked into low-molecular-weight aromatic compounds (LACs) at high temperature. Furthermore, agarwood incense smoke showed anti-inflammatory activities by inhibiting lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced TNF-α and IL-1α release in RAW264.7 cells.

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