Composition of Essential Oil of Artemisia gmelinii Web. ex Stechm. of Рriolkhonian Flora (Lake Baikal)

Artemisia gmelinii Web. ex Stechm. is a pan-Asian mesoxerophyte shrub. A.gmelinii has found application in folk medicine. The composition of the essential oil has been studied for plants growing in different parts of the area. This article demonstrates the composition of essential oils of plants of the Priolkhonian flora (Lake Baikal), in particular in Aya Bay. Raw materials were collected during expeditionary work in 2019. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation from air-dried raw materials in the year they were collected. Oil analysis was performed by chromatography–mass spectrometry. Data on the composition of the essential oil for visualization were processed using principal component analysis. γ-amorphene, isohumbertiol B, caryophylline oxide, caryophylla-4 (12), 8(13)-diene-5α-ol, ylangenol, caryophyllene, and cabrevia oxide B are dominant components of the essential oil of plants from Aya Bay. Based on our own data and published data, we show that the component composition of essential oils is the result of the action of abiotic and biotic environmental factors and ensures that the plants are best suited to their growing conditions. On the other hand, regardless of where the plant grows, the directions of biosynthesis of the constituent essential oils are preserved, which makes it possible to distinguish various chemotypes of essential oils. The composition of the essential oils can be divided into two chemotypes: Indian, characterized by a high content of irregular monoterpenoids in the composition, and Siberian, characterized by a high content of monoterpenoids menthane type. Among the plants of the Siberian chemotype, there is a tendency to the formation of two lines—the western, with a prevalence of camphor terpenoids (camphor, borneol, etc.), and the eastern (alpine) sector of the range, with the accumulation of sesquiterpenic compounds in essential oils.