Bioactive compounds of Carlina acanthifolia All. roots obtained by fractional extraction and their 3D fluorescence spectra

Carlina acanthifolia All. is widely used in traditional medicine due to the presence of essential oil (1–2%) in the outer part of the roots of the plant. It is mainly used for its choleretic and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as for the treatment of gastrointestinal problems. We obtain the fractions by sequential extraction with different solvents (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and ethanol) from carline thistles (Carlina acanthifolia All.) roots, evaluate the phytochemical compounds and for the first time, we report here the 3D fluorescence excitation-emission spectra. High extractable contents of fatty acids, terpenes, sterols, sugars and polyphenols, flavonoids and carlina oxide were found in the different fractional extracts of Carlina acanthifolia root. Three phenolic acids were detected in the ethyl acetate and n-hexane fraction, benzoic acid, phenylacetic acid, and p-methoxymadelic acid. In addition, fatty acids, pentacyclic triterpenes and sugars have been identified, these phytocomponents are responsible for the fluorescent properties of the roots. The topographic view of the excitation-emission matrix outlines a large strong first maximum ( \(\lambda _{em ,1}\) $\lambda _{em,1}^{}$ = 570 nm for \(\lambda _{exc ,1}\) $\lambda _{exc,1}^{}$ = 470 nm) connected with the presence of vitamin E and fatty acids and a weaker narrower second one ( \(\lambda _{em ,2}\) $\lambda _{em,2}^{}$ = 465 nm for \(\lambda _{exc ,2}\) $\lambda _{exc,2}^{}$ = 360 nm), witch is due to the presence of flavonoids, phenolic acids and palmitic acid. The emission spectrum of the main maximum is rather large at the 90% level ( \(\delta \lambda _{em ,1}\) $\delta \lambda _{em,1}^{}$ = 60 nm) but is observed over a narrow excitation bandwidth ( \( \delta \lambda _{{exm,1}} = 25\;{\text{nm}} \) $\delta \lambda _{exm,1}^{}=25\text{nm}$ ). The Stokes shift \(\Delta \lambda \) $\mathrm{\Delta }\lambda$ is around 100 nm over the excitation range from 430 to 560 nm. Seven elements—Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and Zn, were determined in Carlina acanthifolia All. as potassium has the highest content \( K = 32.7 \pm 0.6\;{\text{g}}\;{\text{kg}}^{{ - 1}} \) $K=32.7\pm 0.6\text{g}\text{kg}_{}^{-1}$ followed by Ca, Mg and Fe \( (8.24 \pm 0.12;1.86 \pm 0.03;1.25 \pm 0.01\,{\text{g}}\,{\text{kg}}^{{ - 1}} ) \) $(8.24\pm 0.12;1.86\pm 0.03;1.25\pm 0.01\text{g}\text{kg}_{}^{-1})$ , in \( {\text{mg}}\,{\text{kg}}^{{ - 1}} \) $\text{mg}\text{kg}_{}^{-1}$ are \( {\text{Na}} = 212 \pm 3 \) $\text{Na}=212\pm 3$ , \({\text{Mn}} = 41.9 \pm 0.2\) $\text{Mn}=41.9\pm 0.2$ and \({\text{Zn}} = 26.7 \pm 0.3\) $\text{Zn}=26.7\pm 0.3$ .