Chemotaxonomic study on inflorescence headspace volatiles of Achillea species from Serbia

This work presents a chemotaxonomic study on inflorescence headspace volatiles (HSVs) of twelve Achillea species, including ten from the section Achillea sensu lato and two from the section Anthemoideae sensu lato from Serbia. In most of the studied species, oxygenated monoterpenes were the dominant class of compounds, while the content of monoterpenes hydrocarbons was lower, except for A. lingulata (71.1%). The approximate content of these two classes was observed in HSVs of A. millefolium, A. chrysocoma, and A. collina. Therewith, sesquiterpenes were absent or detected in a low percentage. The most abundant inflorescence HSVs were 1,8-cineole (A. chrysocoma, A. clypeolata, A. coarctata, A. crithmifolia, A. distans, and A. millefolium), β-pinene (A. collina and A. lingulata), camphor (A. grandifolia and A. pseudopectinata), chrysanthenone (A. nobilis), and trans-sabinyl acetate (A. ageratifolia). Multivariate statistical analyses revealed no clear differentiation between the two studied Achillea sections based on inflorescence HSVs.