Bioactive Components of Sea Buckthorn Hippophae rhamnoides L. Foliage

Abstract

The composition of lipophilic components of sea buckthorn leafy shoots, a large tonnage waste in the production of sea buckthorn oil and during renewing the cultural plantings of sea buckthorn, was studied. Hexane was used as an extraction solvent for raw materials; it provides a high degree of lipophilic component extraction and is an analogue of extraction gasoline used in the food and perfume industries. The chemical composition of the hexane extract of sea buckthorn leafy shoots was studied by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and high-performance liquid chromatography. Sixty-seven neutral and twenty-nine acidic components, including polyprenols, dolichols, triterpene alcohols and acids, sterols, were identified. β-Sitosterol was the main component of the sterol fraction. Its content was 6.9% of the extract mass, which is much higher than in the essential extracts of leaves and pulp of sea buckthorn fruit. It is mostly found in the free form in the extract. The acidic fraction contains highly active triterpene acids (up to 5% of the extract mass) along with the major aliphatic acids. Components with the chain length of 11 and 17 isoprene units predominate in the fraction of polyprenols and dolichols (up to 4.2%). The results allow us to consider sea buckthorn leafy shoots as a promising source of biologically active compounds.