Chemical Composition of Lipids from Peat-Forming Leafy Mosses of Eutrophic Swamps of Western Siberia and Altai

Abstract

The molecular composition of lipids in three samples of leafy mosses (Aulacomnium palustre, Warnstorfia fluitans, and Calliergon giganteum) has been determined. The revealed acyclic compounds included normal and isoprenoid alkanes, isoprenoid alkenes, normal and isoprenoid ketones, carboxylic acids and their esters, alcohols, and aldehydes. Among cyclic compounds, bi-, tri- and tetracyclic polycycloaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), bicyclic and pentacyclic terpenoids, steroids and tocopherols have been observed. The identified organic compounds consisted mainly of carbocyclic acids and n-alkanes with the prevalence of C₂₇ homologues. A. palustre is characterized by a reduced content of isoprenoid compounds, alcohols, and ketones, while the content of unsaturated acids, pentacyclic terpenoids, and aldehydes is rather heightened. A. palustre differs from W. fluitans and C. giganteum in the steroid composition and contains eremophylene, a sesquiterpenoid, which is absent in the mosses of the family Amblystegiaceae. Compared to C. giganteum, W. fluitans has a higher content of lycopadiene, carboxylic acids, n-alkanes, phyt-2-ene, aldehydes, esters, squalene, diploptene, α-tocopherol, and triphenyl phosphates.