An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Allium cepa

Allium cepa (Liliaceae)

Common Names
Onion; Shallot
How this plant is used
Food
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
1(F)-BETA-FRUCTOSYL-SUCROSE 0 Bulb Bacon, J. S. D. 1959. Trisaccharide Fraction of Some Monocotyledons. Biochem. J., 73: 507-514.
1-(METHYLSULFINYL)-PROPYL-METHYL-DISULFIDE 1 Bulb *
1-(PROPYL-DITHIO)-PROPANE 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
1-METHYLDITHIO-PROPANE 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
1-METHYLTRITHIO-PROPANE 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
1-O-CAFFEOYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSE 0 Leaf *
1-O-FERULOYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSE 0 Leaf *
1-O-P-COUMAROYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSE 0 Leaf *
1-PROPYLTRITHIO-PROPANE 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
2,3-DIMETHYL-(DL)-BUTANE-CIS-1-CIS-DITHIAL-S,S'-DIOXIDE 0 Bulb Block, R., Bayer, T. 1990. (z,z)-d-1,2,3-dimethyl-1,4-butanedithial-s,s'-dioxide: A Novel Bilogically Active Organosulfur Compound from Onion. J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 112(11): 4584-4585.
2,3-DIMETHYL-5,6-DITHIA-BICYCLO(2,2,1)HEXANE-5-OXIDE 0 Bulb *
2,3-DIMETHYLTHIOPHENE 0 Bulb Kimura, K., Nishimura, H., Kimura, I., Iwata, I., Mizutani, J. 1984. Flavor Components of Roasted Onion. I. Changes in Flavor Components of Onion by Roasting. Nippon Eiyo Shokuryo Gakkaishi, 37(4): 343-347.
2,4-DIMETHYLTHIOPHENE 0 Bulb Kimura, K., Nishimura, H., Kimura, I., Iwata, I., Mizutani, J. 1984. Flavor Components of Roasted Onion. I. Changes in Flavor Components of Onion by Roasting. Nippon Eiyo Shokuryo Gakkaishi, 37(4): 343-347.
2,4-DIMETHYLTHIOPHENE 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
2,5-DIMETHYLTHIOPHENE 0 Bulb *
2,5-DIMETHYLTHIOPHENE 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
2-METHYL-BUT-2-EN-1-AL 0 Bulb Wilkens, W. F. 1962. The Isolation and Identification of the Lachrymogenic Compound of Onion. Diss. Abstr. Int. B, 22: 3978.
2-METHYL-BUT-2-EN-1-AL 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
2-METHYL-BUTYR-2-ALDEHYDE 0 Bulb Wilkens, W. F. 1964. Isolation and Identification of the Lachrymogenic Compound of Onion. Cornell Univ., Agr. Expt. Sta. Mem. No., 385: 31 pp.
2-METHYL-PENT-2-EN-1-AL 0 Essential Oil Albrand, M., Dubois, P., Etievant, P., Gelin, R., Tokarska, B. 1980. Identification of a New Volatile Compound in Onion (Allium cepa) and Leek (Allium porum): 3,4-dimethyl-2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydrothiophene. J. Agric. Food Chem., 28(5): 1037-1038.
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Gram(+)icide 3 LAWSON in Koch, H. P. and Lawson, L. D., eds. 1996. Garlic- The
Science and therapeutic application of Allium sativum L. and related species. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. 329 pp.
Gram(-)icide 1 LAWSON in Koch, H. P. and Lawson, L. D., eds. 1996. Garlic- The
Science and therapeutic application of Allium sativum L. and related species. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. 329 pp.
GT-Inducer 1 *
Hemolytic 2 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
Hemopoietic 1 *
Hemostat 5 *
Hemostatic 1 Merck 11th Edition
Hepatocarcinogenic 1 *
Hepatomagenic 2 Phenolic Compounds in Food and Their Effects on Health. Antioxidants & Cancer Prevention. Huang, M.T., Ho, C.T. and Lee, C.Y. eds. 1992. ACS Symposium Series 507.ACS, Washington 402 pp.
Hepatoprotective 17 *
Hepatotonic 1 Fitoterapia No.5-1986.
Hepatotoxic 4 Martindale's 29th
Hepatotropic 2 *
Herbicide 4 Lydon, J. & Duke, S., The potential of pesticides from plants, pp. 1-41 in Craker, L. & Simon, J., eds, Herbs, Spices & Medicinal Plants: Recent Advances in Botany, Horticulture, & Pharmacology, v. 4, Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1989, 267pp.
Histamine-Inhibitor 1 *
HIV-RT-Inhibitor 2 Garcia, J., Morin,* C., Nyasse, B., Sondengam, B-L., Tchouankeu, J-C., and Tsamo, E. Complete Structural Assignments Of An Ergosterol Derivative From Entandrophragma utile. Journal of Natural Products, 54(1): 136-142, 1991.
Hydrocholerectic 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Hypercholesterolemic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Hyperglycemic 2 Merck 11th Edition
Hypertensive 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).