Analysis of Volatile Compounds from Different Parts of Houttuynia cordata Thunb.

Houttuynia cordata Thunb. is a medicinal and edible plant that has been commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine since ancient times. This study used headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and direct injection, combined with gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), to identify the volatile compounds in H. cordata. Extraction from different parts of the plant using different extraction techniques for the identification of volatile compounds were determined. A total of 93 volatile components were analyzed in the leaves, stems, rhizomes, and whole plant samples of H. cordata. The leaves contained more (Z)-3-hexenal, beta-myrcene, (Z)-beta-ocimene, and (4E,6E)-allo-ocimene; the stems contained more geranyl acetate and nerolidol; and rhizomes contained more alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, limonene, 2-undecanone, and decanoyl acetaldehyde. Among them, the essential oil extracted by HS-SPME could produce more monoterpenes, while direct injection could obtain higher contents of aliphatic ketones, terpene esters, sesquiterpenes, and was more conducive to the extraction of 2-undecanone and decanoyl acetaldehyde.

Automated summary

This study identified the volatile compounds in H. cordata using HS-SPME and direct injection combined with GC and GC-MS. Different parts of the plant were found to contain different compounds. The leaves contained (Z)-3-hexenal, beta-myrcene, etc., the stems contained geranyl acetate and nerolidol, and the rhizomes contained alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, etc. HS-SPME extraction produced more monoterpenes, while direct injection had higher contents of aliphatic ketones, terpene esters, etc.