Characterization of Otanthus maritimus Leaf Essential Oil: Chemotype Diversity and Bioactive Potential

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AKÇURA S.

Türk Tarım - Gıda Bilim ve Teknoloji dergisi, cilt.14, sa.6, ss.1664-1669, 2026 (TRDizin)

Özet

This study investigates the chemical composition of the essential oil from the leaves of Otanthus maritimus (L.) Hoffmanns. & Link, a species with a long history of medicinal use, yet its Turkish populations remain phytochemically underexplored. The main aim was to describe the leaf essential oil of a population on the island of Gökçeada, Türkiye, to reveal the specific chemical composition and the possible biological importance. Air-dried leaves of O. maritimus were subjected to hydro distillation to extract the essential oil. Hydrodistillation gave a dark blue essential oil, extraction yield was 0.37% (v/w: dry weight basis). The extracted oil was then analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to determine its constituent compounds. The analytical study was able to identify 67 component compounds, which formed 94.7% prominence of the overall oil composition, camphor (18.73%), yomogi alcohol (17.40%), theaspirane (15.42%) and artemisia alcohol (7.79%) formed the most abundant compounds. This is as compared to composition of populations of O. maritimus in other geographical areas, which also characterize a Turkish chemotype. In conclusion, the paper provides a detailed report of the O. maritimus leaf essential oil in Türkiye that presents a novel chemotype with significant levels of bioactive compounds. The findings not only demonstrate the potential of the plant as a useful source of the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries, but also provide one of the main foundations in future chemotaxonomic and pharmacological researchers to ascertain the traditional and newly suggested biological actions of the plant.