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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
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-CYSTEINE 0 Bulb Virtanen, A. I., Matikkala, B. J. 1961. New gamma-l-glutamyl Petides in Onion (Allium cepa). III. Suomen Kemistilehti, 34B: 53-54.
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-ISOLEUCINE 0 Bulb *
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-L-ARGININE 0 Bulb Matikkala, E. J., Virtanen, A. I. 1970. Isolation of gamma-l-glutamy-l-arginine and gamma-l-glutamyl-s-(2-carboxy-n-propyl)-l-cysteine from Allium cepa (Onion). Suomen Kemistilehti, 43(11): 435-438.
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-L-VALINE 0 Bulb Virtanen, A. I., Matikkala, B. J. 1961. New gamma-l-glutamyl Petides in Onion (Allium cepa). III. Suomen Kemistilehti, 34B: 53-54.
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-S(2-CARBOXY-N-PROPYL)L-CYSTEINE 0 Bulb *
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-S-(1-PROPENYL)-CYSTEINE-SULFOXIDE 0 Bulb Virtanen, A. I., Matikkala, E. J. 1961. Structure of the Gamma-Glutamyl Peptide 4 Isolated from Onion (Allium cepa)-gamma-l-glutamyl-s-(1-propenyl)-cysteine sulfoxide. Suomen Kemistilehti, 34B: 84.
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-S-(1-PROPENYL)L-CYSTEINE-SULFOXIDE 0 Bulb *
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-S-(2-CARBOXY-BETA-METHYL-ETHYL)-CYSTEINYL-GLYCINE 0 Bulb *
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-S-(2-CARBOXY-BETA-METHYL-ETHYL)-CYSTEINYL-GLYCINE-ETHYL-ESTER 0 Bulb *
GAMMA-L-GLUTAMYL-VALINE 0 Bulb *
GIBBERELLIN-A-4 0 Root Das, V. S. R., Rao, J. V. S. 1965. Onion Root Gibberellins. Curr. Sci., 34(1): 28.
GLUCOFRUCTAN 0 Bulb Osman, S. A. 1980. Chemical and Biological Studies of Onion and Garlic in an Attempt to Isolate a Hypoclycaemic Extract. Abstr. 4th Asian Symp. Med. Plants Spices Bangkok, Thailand, September 15-19: 117.
GLUCOFRUCTAN 0 Leaf Osman, S. A. 1980. Chemical and Biological Studies of Onion and Garlic in an Attempt to Isolate a Hypoclycaemic Extract. Abstr. 4th Asian Symp. Med. Plants Spices Bangkok, Thailand, September 15-19: 117.
GLUCOSE 7 Bulb Osman, S. A. 1980. Chemical and Biological Studies of Onion and Garlic in an Attempt to Isolate a Hypoclycaemic Extract. Abstr. 4th Asian Symp. Med. Plants Spices Bangkok, Thailand, September 15-19: 117.
GLUCOSE 7 Leaf Osman, S. A. 1980. Chemical and Biological Studies of Onion and Garlic in an Attempt to Isolate a Hypoclycaemic Extract. Abstr. 4th Asian Symp. Med. Plants Spices Bangkok, Thailand, September 15-19: 117.
GLUTAMIC-ACID 8 Bulb Thomas, D. J., Parkin, K. L. 1994. Quantification of Alk(en)yl-L-Cysteine Sulfoxides and Related Amino Acids in Alliums by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. J. Agr. Food Chem., 42(8): 1632-1638.
GLUTAMINE 5 Bulb *
GLUTAN 0 Bulb *
GLUTATHIONE 7 Bulb Ueda, Y., Taubuku, T., Miyajima, R. 1994. Composition of Sulfur-Containing Components in Onion and Their Flavor Characters. Biosci. Biotech. Biochem., 58(1): 108-110.
GLYCINE 12 Bulb 490.0 5341.0 1.00 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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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 *