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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
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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
Scabicide 1 Martindale's 29th
Schizophrenigenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Sclerosant 1 Martindale's 29th
Secretogogue 2 Newall, C. A., Anderson, L. A. and Phillipson, J. D. 1996. Herbal Medicine - A Guide for Health-care Professionals. The Pharmaceutical Press, London. 296pp.
Secretomotor 1 *
Sedative 7 *
Sequestrant 1 Aloe Research Council - Duke writeup of non-peer reviewd book by Coats and draft by Henry
Serotoninergic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Sialogogue 1 Martindale's 29th
Soap 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Spermicide 3 Martindale's 28th
Spermigenic 2 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Squalene-Monooxygenase-Inhibitor 1 *
Succinate-Dehydrogenase-Inhibitor 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.
Sunscreen 3 Lazarova*, G., Kostova, I., Neychev, H. 1992. Photodynamic damage prevention by some hydroxycoumarins. Fitoterapia 64(2): 134-136, 1993.
Suppository 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Surfactant 1 Schulz, V, Hansel, R and Tyler, VE. 1998. Rational Phytotherapy - A Physician's Guide to Herbal Medicine. 3rd ed. 1st English Edition. Translated by Terry C. Telger. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg. 306 pp.
Sweetener 3 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Teratogenic 1 Borchard, R. E., Barnes, C. D., and Eltherton, L. G. 1991. Drug Dosage in Laboratory Animals: A Handbook. (3rd Ed.) The Telford Press, Inc., P. O. Box 287, Caldwell NJ 07006.
Teratologic 2 *