Comprehensive Phytochemical Profiling and Chemotypic Variation Study of Three Medicinally Important Oncosiphon Species Indigenous to South Africa

Abstract

The genus <i>Oncosiphon</i> (Asteraceae), consisting of aromatic herbs, is indigenous to southern Africa. <i>Oncosiphon</i> species have been documented in Khoi-San ethnobotany as herbal remedies for typhoid fever, pneumonia, and as diuretics. Research on the biological properties and comprehensive phytochemical profiling of these important <i>Oncosiphon</i> species is currently limited. This study was therefore undertaken to address the knowledge void in chemical profiling, through the application of various analytical techniques to analyse the volatile and non-volatile constituents of three South African <i>Oncosiphon</i> species. The aerial parts of <i>Oncosiphon suffruticosus</i> (n = 28), <i>O. grandiflorus</i> (n = 16), and <i>O. africanus</i> (n = 4) were collected from various locations in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The stems and leaves (SL) were separated from the flowers (F) and analysed as distinct samples. The methanol: chloroform (1:1, <i>v</i>/<i>v</i>) extracts were prepared and analysed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QToF-MS) and a semi-automated high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) system. Multivariate data analysis was performed on the UHPLC-QToF-MS data to determine interspecies chemical variation. Two-dimensional (2D) gas chromatography (GCxGC-ToF-MS) was used to determine the headspace volatile profiles of the intact aerial parts. The results show that the non-volatile profiles of the <i>Oncosiphon</i> species are characterised by amino acids, phenolic acids, flavonoids, sesquiterpene lactones, and fatty acid derivatives. The HPTLC profiles of <i>O. grandiflorus</i> and <i>O. africanus</i> are chemically more closely related, and <i>O. suffruticosus</i> has a distinct profile, which is supported by the chemometrics results of the flowers. The major headspace volatile compounds <i>in Oncosiphon</i> flowers are α-pinene, α-ocimene, eucalyptol, o-cymene, and artemisia alcohol, whereas the stems and leaves mainly consist of α-ocimene, eucalyptol, and yomogi alcohol.