Identifying the volatile oil composition of Carthamus Tinctorius L. flowers from Kazakhstan

In this study, researchers from China, Kazakhstan, and the U.S. investigated the composition of the volatile oil derived from the seeds of Carthamus tinctorius, also known as safflower. The results of their study were published in the journal Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine.

• Safflower extracts and oil are valued due to their numerous pharmacological activities.
• Safflower is mainly cultivated for its seeds, from which the edible safflower oil is extracted.
• Safflower has been used in traditional medicine as a purgative, an analgesic, an antipyretic, and as an antidote to poison.
• Safflower is also used to treat painful menstrual problems, post-partum hemorrhage, and osteoporosis.
• For their study, the researchers used seeds from the Ak-Mai safflower, a species native to Kazakhstan.
• They used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to analyze the volatile oil (0.175 percent volume/weight) that they obtained through hydrodistillation.
• The researchers were able to characterize 20 compounds, which represented about 99.81 percent of the oil.
• They reported that the volatile oil is rich in the following compounds:
  • Undecanoic acid
  • Octane
  • 2-nonen-1-ol
  • Hexadecanal
  • Dodecanal
  • Dec-2-en-1-ol
  • Nonanoic acid
  • Tetradecanoic acid
  • 2 pentadecanone
  • 6,10,14-trimethyl, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid
  • Isobutyl-beta-phenylpropionate
  • 1,3-cyclohexadiene
  • Myrtenoic acid
  • Octadecanoic acid
  • Heneicosanoic acid
  • 2(3H)-furanone
  • 4,4-dipropylheptane
  • Hexacosane
  • 1-eicosanol
  • Heptocosane

According to the researchers, this is the first study to report the composition of the oil derived from the seeds of Ak-Mai safflower.

Journal Reference:

Turgumbayeva AA, Ustenova GO, Yeskalieva BK, Ramazanova BA, Rahimov KD, Aisa H, Juszkiewicz KT. VOLATILE OIL COMPOSITION OF CARTHAMUS TINCTORIUS L. FLOWERS GROWN IN KAZAKHSTAN. Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine. 2018;25(1):87–89. DOI: 10.5604/12321966.1235170