Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties

Apart from the importance of bittering acids in the brewing sector, hops also produce terpene-rich essential oils, recognised for their therapeutic benefits. Agri-processing practices of this crop in South Africa produce tonnes of discarded (waste) plant material that could still contain sufficient...

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Main Authors: Olga de Smidt, Wanda du Plessis, Puleng Rose Zacharia, Idah Tichaidza Manduna
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Life
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/2/282
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author Olga de Smidt
Wanda du Plessis
Puleng Rose Zacharia
Idah Tichaidza Manduna
author_facet Olga de Smidt
Wanda du Plessis
Puleng Rose Zacharia
Idah Tichaidza Manduna
author_sort Olga de Smidt
collection DOAJ
description Apart from the importance of bittering acids in the brewing sector, hops also produce terpene-rich essential oils, recognised for their therapeutic benefits. Agri-processing practices of this crop in South Africa produce tonnes of discarded (waste) plant material that could still contain sufficient bioactive compounds to justify upcycling. This research aimed to determine the chemical composition of steam distilled essential oils from fresh hop plant material destined for disposal. Essential oils from eight hop varieties unique to South Africa were produced on industrial scale using steam distillation. Chemical profiling was performed using GC-FID and MS. A total of 208 compounds were identified and oil consisted largely of terpenes (89.04 ± 1.89%) as well as aliphatic esters and -ketones (6.1 ± 1.15%). Myrcene (27.8–48.15%) was the most abundant monoterpene and α-humulene (19.52–24.98%), β-caryophyllene (8.47–13.73%) and β-farnesene (2.08–7.57%) constituted the majority of the sesquiterpenes fraction. Experimental variety XJA2/436 had the highest myrcene fraction (48.15%) and its chemical composition was markedly different from the other varieties. The major compounds in African Queen hop oil were methyl (4Z) decanoate (0.74%), 2-tridecanone (0.77%) and β-farnesene (7.57%). Southern Dawn hop oil contained the highest fractions of 2-undecanone (1.21%) and α-humulene (24.89%) and Southern Passion hop oil contained the highest β-caryophyllene fraction (13.73%). These findings established that fresh hop vegetative biomass shows promise to be transformed into a valuable resource.
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spelling doaj-art-bfd7b640378f45d78995de0f7cab28262025-08-20T02:04:06ZengMDPI AGLife2075-17292025-02-0115228210.3390/life15020282Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop VarietiesOlga de Smidt0Wanda du Plessis1Puleng Rose Zacharia2Idah Tichaidza Manduna3Centre for Applied Food Sustainability and -Biotechnology (CAFSaB), Central University of Technology (CUT), Bloemfontein 9300, South AfricaPreserve Botanica PTY, Ltd., George 6529, South AfricaCentre for Applied Food Sustainability and -Biotechnology (CAFSaB), Central University of Technology (CUT), Bloemfontein 9300, South AfricaCentre for Applied Food Sustainability and -Biotechnology (CAFSaB), Central University of Technology (CUT), Bloemfontein 9300, South AfricaApart from the importance of bittering acids in the brewing sector, hops also produce terpene-rich essential oils, recognised for their therapeutic benefits. Agri-processing practices of this crop in South Africa produce tonnes of discarded (waste) plant material that could still contain sufficient bioactive compounds to justify upcycling. This research aimed to determine the chemical composition of steam distilled essential oils from fresh hop plant material destined for disposal. Essential oils from eight hop varieties unique to South Africa were produced on industrial scale using steam distillation. Chemical profiling was performed using GC-FID and MS. A total of 208 compounds were identified and oil consisted largely of terpenes (89.04 ± 1.89%) as well as aliphatic esters and -ketones (6.1 ± 1.15%). Myrcene (27.8–48.15%) was the most abundant monoterpene and α-humulene (19.52–24.98%), β-caryophyllene (8.47–13.73%) and β-farnesene (2.08–7.57%) constituted the majority of the sesquiterpenes fraction. Experimental variety XJA2/436 had the highest myrcene fraction (48.15%) and its chemical composition was markedly different from the other varieties. The major compounds in African Queen hop oil were methyl (4Z) decanoate (0.74%), 2-tridecanone (0.77%) and β-farnesene (7.57%). Southern Dawn hop oil contained the highest fractions of 2-undecanone (1.21%) and α-humulene (24.89%) and Southern Passion hop oil contained the highest β-caryophyllene fraction (13.73%). These findings established that fresh hop vegetative biomass shows promise to be transformed into a valuable resource.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/2/282hopshop essential oilsterpenesGC-FIDGC-MSaliphatic compounds
spellingShingle Olga de Smidt
Wanda du Plessis
Puleng Rose Zacharia
Idah Tichaidza Manduna
Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties
Life
hops
hop essential oils
terpenes
GC-FID
GC-MS
aliphatic compounds
title Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties
title_full Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties
title_fullStr Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties
title_short Comparison of Major Compounds in Essential Oils Steam Distilled from Fresh Plant Material of South African Hop Varieties
title_sort comparison of major compounds in essential oils steam distilled from fresh plant material of south african hop varieties
topic hops
hop essential oils
terpenes
GC-FID
GC-MS
aliphatic compounds
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/15/2/282
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AT pulengrosezacharia comparisonofmajorcompoundsinessentialoilssteamdistilledfromfreshplantmaterialofsouthafricanhopvarieties
AT idahtichaidzamanduna comparisonofmajorcompoundsinessentialoilssteamdistilledfromfreshplantmaterialofsouthafricanhopvarieties