Disentangling the chemistry of Australian plant exudates from a unique historical collection.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
; 119(22): e2116021119, 2022 05 31.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35617429
ABSTRACT
For thousands of years, the unique physicochemical properties of plant exudates have defined uses in material culture and practical applications. Native Australian plant exudates, including resins, kinos, and gums, have been used and continue to be used by Aboriginal Australians for numerous technical and cultural purposes. A historic collection of well-preserved native Australian plant exudates, assembled a century ago by plant naturalists, gives a rare window into the history and chemical composition of these materials. Here we report the full hierarchical characterization of four genera from this collection, Xanthorrhoea, Callitris, Eucalyptus, and Acacia, from the local elemental speciation, to functional groups and main molecular markers. We use high-resolution X-ray Raman spectroscopy (XRS) to achieve bulk-sensitive chemical speciation of these plant exudates, including insoluble, amorphous, and cross-linked fractions, without the limitation of invasive and/or surface specific methods. Combinatorial testing of the XRS data allows direct classification of these complex natural species as terpenoid, aromatic, phenolic, and polysaccharide materials. Differences in intragenera chemistry was evidenced by detailed interpretation of the XRS spectral features. We complement XRS with Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS), and pyrolysisGC-MS (Py-GC-MS). This multimodal approach provides a fundamental understanding of the chemistry of these natural materials long used by Aboriginal Australian peoples.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Acacia
/
Eucalyptus
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Exsudatos de Plantas
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Asphodelaceae
/
Pinales
País/Região como assunto:
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
França