**1. Introduction**

The Research Center for Agroindustrialization of Aromatic and Medicinal Tropical Vegetal Species, CENIVAM, is a multidisciplinary research network of groups from Colombian public and private universities that joined efforts to study Colombia's agricultural biodiversity, with focus on aromatic plants. Under permit from Colombia's Environment Ministry, botanical expeditions were organized to obtain vegetal material from different regions in the country. A primary taxonomical identification made by the researchers in the field was subsequently replaced by the assessment made at Colombia's National Herbarium, where exsiccatae of all studied materials have been deposited. The vegetal material was dried, chopped, and either distilled or macerated,

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

to obtain essential oils and extracts, respectively. Samples of these secondary metabolites were sent to several collaborating groups for the characterization of their biological activity. Highresolution chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques were utilized in the chemical characterization of the essential oils and extracts. The combined knowledge of chemical composition and biological activity serves as the basis for the sustainable use of the biodiversity in the development of new consumer products for the cosmetics, hygiene, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Pilot essential oil production units have been implemented in some municipalities (Socorro, Sucre, and Barbosa) in the state of Santander. Farmers associations have been trained on good agricultural practices, post-harvest treatment of the vegetal material, and operation of stills designed at Universidad Industrial de Santander, UIS, for the rural essential oil extraction under either hydrodistillation or steam distillation. Thanks to these pilot units, farmers have begun production of essential oils of *Cymbopogon nardus*, *C*. *martinii*, and *Lippia origanoides*. New developments have started to extend the cultivation and essential oil production to additional species, such as *Cananga odorata*, *Pogostemon cablin*, *Vanilla planifolia*, *Lippia alba*, and *Rosmarinus officinalis*.

For the instrumental analysis of volatile fractions and extracts, gas chromatography (GC) is used in one-dimensional (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) versions (GCxGC), in capillary columns of different polarities, using universal detection systems (flame ionization detector (FID); mass selective detector (MSD), in *full scan* mode), or selective detection, e.g., selective nitrogen and phosphorus detector (NPD), flame photometric detector(FPD), to register nitrogenous or sulfur compounds, respectively, and very specific detection systems such as electroantennography, electronic nose, and so on [4]. High-resolution mass spectrometry detection systems (HR-TOF, Orbitrap) are nowadays an excellent alternative for exact mass determination (elemental composition analysis), selective and very sensitive detection of sec-

The Expression of Biodiversity in the Secondary Metabolites of Aromatic Plants and Flowers…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78001

61

Many and very diverse compounds have been detected and identified in floral fragrances. More than 1700 have been recorded in a diverse group of flowers studied [5]. The main families of chemical compounds found in floral scents include hydrocarbons (saturated, cyclic and olefinic); terpenes, basically, monoterpenoids and some sesquiterpenoids; benzenoids and phenylpropanoids, the oxygenated compounds of mixed nature, *e.g.,* alcohols, aldehydes, ethers, esters (fatty acid derivatives), and substances that contain heteroatoms, such

The basic biological function of the floral fragrance is to promote or facilitate cross-pollination, which is a vital process in the life cycle of most angiosperm plants. The knowledge of the floral fragrance chemical composition is important to understand plant-insect interaction, the chemical strategies not only to attract the pollinators but also to deter the herbivores and to face the pathogens, to adapt to different abiotic stresses; to study the biochemical pathways of secondary metabolism in a plant, its adaptability and biological evolution. Also, it is of practical interest to know the floral composition as a source of inspiration to create new fragrances and odorous mixtures, which are used in the cosmetics, perfumes, personal hygiene products,

The floral fragrances of diverse plants, despite of having a different smell, could contain many common compounds. Among these, the terpenoids are a large group: monoterpene (ocimenes, phellandrenes, carenes, terpinenes, limonene, and *p*-cymene), sesquiterpenes (caryophyllenes, farnesenes, bisabolenes, cadinenes, cubebenes, elemenes, germacrenes, and their structural isomers), and their oxygenated analogues (caryophyllene oxide, farnesol alcohols, nerolidol, and their esters), and some irregular terpenes. Among the most frequent oxygenated monoterpenes one can find alcohols: linalool, geraniol, nerol, and their acetates; ketones: carvone, menthone, verbenone; and aldehydes: citral (geranial and neral), and their oxides. Another family in the floral fragrance is made up of hydrocarbons, aliphatics, C<sup>1</sup>

(more frequently, C13-C21 hydrocarbons, and olefinics, including some cycloparaffins). These substances, together with the fatty acids, C12-C22, are part of the wax protective layer that lines the petals of many flowers, a lot of fatty acid derivatives (alcohols, ketones, ethers, esters, and lactones) could predominate in the floral scents of some flowers. A distinctive odoriferous note in the floral fragrance is due to the presence in its mixtures of compounds that contain sulfur or nitrogen atoms, probably originating from the metabolism of amino acids; among these volatile secondary metabolites, there are compounds with nitro group, indoles, oximes,

nitriles, anthranilates, and sulfides, among the most common.


ondary metabolites in complex floral scent mixtures.

as sulfur or nitrogen.

or aromatherapy industries.

This chapter presents results from essential oil and flower fragrance analysis. Flowers maintained in CENIVAM's experimental garden were sampled both in vivo and in vitro to characterize their volatile compounds. The complex combination of volatile compounds emitted by flowers depends on the plant species, its habitat, phenological state, propagation strategy, time of day, circadian rhythm, climate, and many more variables.
