The main components of Yunnan nutmeg are volatile oil and fatty oil, among which the content of volatile oil is 8%- 15%, and the content of fatty oil is 25%-46%. According to the Pharmacopoeia, the content of volatile oil should not be less than 6.0%(ml/g). In recent years, there have been many reports on the chemical composition and changes of chemical composition of its volatile oil before and after processing, and its pharmacological effects, but there is no report on the summary of volatile oil. This paper plans to review the volatile oil.
Study on chemical constituents of volatile oil from raw products
There are many reports on the chemical constituents of volatile oil from crude nutmeg in Yunnan, and most of them use GC-MS technology. Guo Xisheng and others separated seven compounds by automatic preparative gas chromatography and centrifugal rotary thin layer chromatography, and identified them as β pinene, γ terpinene, terpinene 4 alcohol, Yunnan myristyl ether, safrole, methyl eugenol and elemene by spectrum and physical and chemical constants. Li Tielin et al. qualitatively identified 32 compounds by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Lai Wenling et al. studied the chemical constituents of the volatile oil from Yunnan nutmeg by GC-MS-DS, and identified 29 compounds. Liu Bo and others used supercritical GCMS extraction technology to analyze the components of Yunnan nutmeg essential oil, and found that the main chemical components in Yunnan nutmeg essential oil were α pinene, β pinene, terpene, Yunnan myricetin and dipentene, geraniol, Yunnan myristate and so on. Wang Ying et al. used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to analyze the chemical constituents of nine kinds of volatile oil from Yunnan nutmeg. Results 95- 1 18 compounds were detected from nine kinds of volatile oil from Yunnan nutmeg, and 79 compounds were identified, many of which were identified from Yunnan nutmeg for the first time.
Study on volatile oil and composition changes of processed products
The modern research on the effective component of Yunnan nutmeg mostly thinks that it is its volatile oil, and the medicine of Yunnan nutmeg is mostly processed products, so it is of great significance to study the volatile oil after its processing, especially the change of its chemical composition, which provides a scientific basis for the research on the purpose, principle and pharmacological action of Yunnan nutmeg processing, but its research reports are different.
The Chinese Medicine Research Class of Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine reported that the volatile oil of Yunnan nutmeg decreased by about 20% compared with the same product, and its color, refractive index and optical rotation changed. Therefore, it is reasonable to use Yunnan nutmeg for relieving diarrhea after processing. Zhang Ximin and others made an experimental study on the processed products of Yunnan nutmeg. The results showed that the content of volatile oil in the processed products decreased, and the color of volatile oil deepened, the specific gravity increased, the optical rotation decreased, and the refractive index changed. At the same time, the content of toxic component Yunnan myristyl ether also decreased. Wang Zhengyi and others also found that the content of volatile oil decreased, the color deepened, the specific gravity increased, the optical rotation decreased, and the refractive index also changed after processing Yunnan nutmeg. It was also found that the content of volatile oil in processed Yunnan nutmeg was closely related to the processing temperature, time and the types of accessories. It was suggested that the appropriate temperature was 100- 180℃, and the appropriate time was 50min.
Wang Gegan and others proposed that the content of volatile oil in Yunnan nutmeg prepared by different methods was significantly lower than that of raw nutmeg, but there was no significant difference among the stewed products. The refractive index and specific rotation of volatile oil in each stewed product were increased compared with that of raw nutmeg, but there was no significant difference among the stewed products. TLC analysis showed that the components of volatile oil in raw nutmeg and raw nutmeg were basically unchanged. Li Tielin et al. studied the changes of volatile oil content in Yunnan nutmeg processed with talcum powder scalding, flour-wrapped simmering and wheat bran frying under different heating conditions. The results showed that processing temperature and time had significant effects on the content of volatile oil, and processing time was an important factor affecting the content of volatile oil under the same heating temperature. Li Tielin et al. analyzed the volatile oil of Yunnan nutmeg, which was scalded with talcum powder, simmered with flour, and fried with wheat bran by gas chromatography. It was confirmed that the main chemical components of the volatile oil were the same before and after processing, but the content relationship of each component had changed. The study on the content change of Yunnan nutmeg ether in the volatile oil before and after processing showed that the content of Yunnan nutmeg ether could be significantly reduced under suitable processing conditions. Jia Tianzhu and others studied the volatile oil from different processed products of Yunnan nutmeg. The results showed that the content of volatile oil decreased, the specific gravity and refractive index increased, and the optical rotation decreased after processing. The chemical composition of volatile oil from different processed products was compared by GC/MS. Results Compared with raw products, the chemical composition of volatile oil changed little, while the toxic components of Yunnan myristyl ether and safrole ether decreased.
Jia Tianzhu et al. determined the contents of eugenol, methyl eugenol and methyl isoeugenol in the volatile oil of different processed products by HPLC. Compared with the raw products, the results showed that the content of eugenol did not change much before and after processing, but the antidiarrheal components of methyl eugenol and methyl isoeugenol increased obviously, especially the single steamed products. Jia Tianzhu et al. determined Yunnan myristicate ether and safrole in the volatile oil of Yunnan nutmeg and its processed products by HPLC. The results showed that the content of volatile oil decreased after processing Yunnan nutmeg, and the content of Yunnan myristicate ether and safrole also decreased significantly, thus reducing toxicity. Chen Likun and others also studied the volatile oil content of different processed products of Yunnan nutmeg, which also confirmed that the volatile oil content was lower than that of raw products.
However, according to the research report of Traditional Chinese Medicine Group of Tianjin Institute for Drug Control, except that the volatile oil content of Yunnan nutmeg and talcum powder processed products is slightly reduced, the volatile oil content of other processed products is basically the same as that of raw products, and the volatile oil components of raw products and processed products have not changed, so it is considered that Yunnan nutmeg need not be processed and can be used raw. Doris Chow Yan-Wah et al. used orthogonal experiment to explore the influence of different processing conditions on the content of volatile oil, and determined the content of Yunnan myricetin in volatile oil by gas chromatography. The results showed that the processing conditions had no significant influence on the content of volatile oil and its Yunnan myricetin, and the influence of processing temperature on the content of volatile oil increased with the decrease of air humidity during grinding. The ether content in volatile oil did not decrease with the decrease of volatile oil content, but increased. It is pointed out that processing may not effectively reduce toxicity.
Study on content determination of chemical components
Guo Xisheng et al. determined the contents of Yunnan myristicin and safrole in volatile oil of Yunnan nutmeg by normal phase high performance liquid chromatography. The method is simple, sensitive, rapid and reproducible, and samples from different sources were determined, and their contents are quite different. Jia Tianzhu and others determined the contents of Yunnan myristicin and safrole in the volatile oil of Yunnan nutmeg and its different processed products by TLC scanning and HPLC respectively. Jia Tianzhu et al. determined the contents of eugenol, methyl eugenol and methyl isoeugenol in the volatile oil of Yunnan nutmeg and its different processed products by HPLC. Eucalyptus chenhaoensis was extracted from Yunnan nutmeg by soaking 12h with absolute ethanol as solvent, and the content of α pinene in imported Yunnan nutmeg was determined by gas chromatography, which was used as the quality control index of this medicinal material. The method was simple, specific and sensitive.
Study on stability of volatile oil
The volatile oil of nutmeg in Yunnan has poor stability and is easy to oxidize when exposed to light and heat.