Terpenoid and Fatty Acid Profiling along with Anti-Tyrosinase and Anti-Urease Potentials of Scorzonera pygmaea Sibth....

Petroleum ether (PE), chloroform (CH), ethyl acetate (EA) and butanol (BU) fractions were obtained from ethanol extracts of the roots (SPR) and the above ground (SPH) parts of S. pygmaea. PE fractions were evaluated by GC/MS for profiling the terpenoids and the fatty acids of the plant. 29 compounds in total including saturated (major palmitic acid), unsaturated (major linoleic acid) fatty acids and triterpenes were tentatively determined. Short-term extraction methods might be preferred to avoid esterification of fatty acids. Phytochemical profiles of SPR-PE and SPH-PE were found to be similar to each other and to other few Scorzonera species reported previously. These results will contribute to the chemotaxonomic studies about the genus which is considered taxonomically complex genus. Activity studies were carried out using kojic acid (87.10 % inhibition) standard for tyrosinase and thiourea (95.83 % inhibition) standard for urease. SPR-CH was determined as the most potent fraction with 55.94 % and 55.10 % inhibition of tyrosinase and urease, respectively at the same concentration of the standards (200 microgram/mL). These moderate results might be considered encouraging for more detailed studies to determine the active compounds and to evaluate the plant's potential in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries in terms of tyrosinase and urease inhibition.