Title : Comparison of phytochemical screening of essential oil extraction effluent and extract from the powder waste of the essential oil extraction stage in two Achillea species, Achillea Biebersteinii afan and Achillea Wilhelmsii K. Koch, harvested from the Kashan region – Iran
Abstract:
The genus Achillea, within the Asteraceae family, comprises numerous herbaceous species distributed across temperate regions of Asia and Europe. In Iran, Achillea species, locally known as “Bomadaran”, have a significant presence in traditional medicine, attributed to their various pharmacological effects, including reducing blood pressure and cholesterol, healing and treating wounds, regulating menstrual cycles, and alleviating numerous ailments. For this purpose, the aim of the present study is to investigate the active substances (secondary metabolites) present in the effluent from the extraction of essential oil and the extract from its powder residue in two species of yarrow, Achillea biebersteinii Afan. and Achillea wilhelmsii K. Koch, harvested from the Kashan region - Iran. In this project, for the first time, Achillea biebersteinii Afan. and Achillea wilhelmsii K. Koch plants were collected from the Qohroud region - Kashan - Iran and were separately extracted using the hydro-distillation method and a Clevenger apparatus, and then the effluent obtained was stored under appropriate conditions. Subsequently, the powder obtained from the essential oil extraction stage was extracted by digestion and water solvent after drying, and finally, based on the Trease and Evans methods, phytochemical screening of each sample was examined for the presence of bioactive compounds flavonoids, phenols, coumarins, quinones, saponins, tannins, phlobatannins, diterpenoids, xanthoproteins and anthraquinones. The results of this project showed that the effluent from the Clevenger device of the Achillea biebersteinii Afan. plant contains flavonoids, coumarins, tannins and diterpenoids, and the extract obtained from the powder waste obtained from the previous stage contains flavonoids, coumarins and diterpenoids. In contrast, the effluent from the Clevenger plant of Achillea wilhelmsii K. Koch only contained the active ingredient flavonoids, and the extract from its waste also contained flavonoids, phenols, coumarins, tannins, and diterpenoids. Accordingly, considering the biological properties of each of the active ingredients, the secondary metabolites in these two species of Achillea could be a promising method in the treatment of various diseases, especially cancer, which requires further studies and experiments in the future.