What does this research mean for the field?

Thuja occidentalis growing in Estonia exhibits a geographically stable, thujone-rich chemotype across populations, indicating a persistent and uniform toxic potential. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To assess the intraspecific variability, chemotypic stability, and toxicological potential associated with thujone content in Thuja occidentalis essential oils across Estonia.

September 8, 2026Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of SciencesOpen Access

Intraspecific stability of the thujone-rich chemotype of Thuja occidentalis L. in Estonia indicates persistent toxic potential

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Authors

ARAіn RaalUniversity of Tartu OКOleh КоshovyiZaporizhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University

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Implication

Phytochemical analysis reveals consistent high-thujone chemotypes across Thuja occidentalis populations, indicating a persistent toxicological profile regardless of geographical location.

Key Points

To assess the intraspecific variability, chemotypic stability, and toxicological potential associated with thujone content in Thuja occidentalis essential oils across Estonia.
Sampled fresh leaves across 12 distinct geographic populations, alongside dried leaves and fruit samples (n = 5).
Extracted essential oils using hydrodistillation and profiled chemical constituents through gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).
Identified 105 volatile constituents across samples, with fresh leaf essential oils dominated by fenchone (12.08%–29.99%), α-thujone (10.75%–22.74%), and β-thujone (5.13%–17.17%), combining for 28%–70% (mean 52%) of total oil content.
Fresh leaf oil yields ranged from 0.73% to 1.32% (mean 1.04%) and dried leaves yielded up to 2.98%, with both exhibiting identical fenchone–thujone chemotypic dominance devoid of thujone-poor variations.
Fruit essential oils differed quantitatively from leaf oils, exhibiting lower levels of fenchone and thujone isomers alongside elevated proportions of monoterpene hydrocarbons like sabinene.

Cite This Study

Raal et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9fd7c658e84d0ff5b46c9c https://doi.org/10.3176/proc.2026.4.01

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Implication

Phytochemical analysis reveals consistent high-thujone chemotypes across Thuja occidentalis populations, indicating a persistent toxicological profile regardless of geographical location.

Intraspecific stability of the thujone-rich chemotype of Thuja occidentalis L. in Estonia indicates persistent toxic potential

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Key Points

Cite This Study

Intraspecific stability of the thujone-rich chemotype of Thuja occidentalis L. in Estonia indicates persistent toxic potential

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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