Volatile Constituents of Aerial Parts of Capsella rubella Reut

Three different isolates from unexplored wild-growing Brassicaceae plant Capsella rubella were investigated in order to provide more complete insight of the composition and content of volatile constituents. The analysis of volatile compounds was performed by GC-FID/MS. C. rubella essential oil, that is isolate obtained by hydrodistillation, was characterized by a high percentage of 3,4-epithiobutanenitrile (67.8 %). The main volatile compounds in autolysate, i.e. isolate obtained by solvent extraction upon endogenous enzymatic hydrolysis, were 3,4epithiobutanenitrile (44.1 %) and ethyl isothiocyanate (29.4 %). Same as in autolysate, the main volatile constituents of hydrolysate, i.e. isolate obtained by solvent extraction upon exogenous enzymatic hydrolysis, were 3,4-epithiobutanenitrile and ethyl isothiocyanate, but with ethyl isothiocyanate as the dominating compound (57.8 %) followed by 3,4-epithiobutanenitrile (15.6 %). The results showed that qualitative and quantitative composition of C. rubella volatile constituents depends on the isolation method. But, regardless of the isolation method sulfurand nitrogen-containing volatile compounds were quantitatively dominating constituents in all isolates. Keywords: Capsella rubella, essential oil, autolysate, hydrolysate, 3,4-epithiobutanenitrile, ethyl isothiocyanate.