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
2-PROPENYL-L-CYSTEINE-SULFOXIDE 0 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.
24-METHYLENE-CYCLOARTANOL 5 Bulb Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
24-METHYLENE-CYCLOARTENOL 0 Bulb *
28-ISOFUCOSTEROL 0 Bulb Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
3,4-DIMETHYL-2,5-DIOXO-2,5-DIHYDROTHIOPHENE 0 Bulb *
3,4-DIMETHYL-2,5-DIOXO-2,5-DIHYDROTHIOPHENE 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.
3,4-DIMETHYLTHIOPHENE 0 Bulb Leung, A.Y., Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1980.
3,4-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.
31-NORCYCLOARTENOL 0 Bulb Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
31-NORLANOSTENOL 0 Bulb Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
4-ALPHA-METHYL-ZYMOSTENOL 0 Bulb Itoh, T., Tamura, T., Mitsuhashi, T., Matsumoto, T. 1977. Sterols of Liliaceae. Phytochemistry, 16: 140-141.
4-HYDROXY-BENZOIC-ACID 0 Bulb Das, V. S. R., Rao, J. V. S. 1964. Phenolic Acids of Onion Plant. Curr. Sci., 33(15): 471-472.
4-HYDROXY-BENZOIC-ACID 0 Leaf Das, V. S. R., Rao, J. V. S. 1964. Phenolic Acids of Onion Plant. Curr. Sci., 33(15): 471-472.
4-HYDROXY-BENZOIC-ACID 0 Root Das, V. S. R., Rao, J. V. S. 1964. Phenolic Acids of Onion Plant. Curr. Sci., 33(15): 471-472.
5-DEHYDRO-AVENASTEROL 0 Seed Kintia, P. K., Degtiaryova, L. P., Balashova, N. N., Shvets, S. A. 1987. Sterols and Steroidal Glycosides of Bulb Onion Seeds. Fecs. Int. Conf. Chem. Biotechol. Biol. Act. Nat. Prod., (Proc.) 3rd: 166-170.
5-HEXYL-CYCLOPENTA-1,3-DIONE 2 Bulb *
5-METHYL-2-N-HEXYL-2,3-DIHYDROFURAN-3-ONE 0 Bulb Wealth of India.
5-OCTYL-CYCLOPENTA-1,3-DIONE 2 Bulb *
6(G)-BETA-FRUCTOSYL-SUCROSE 0 Bulb Bacon, J. S. D. 1959. Trisaccharide Fraction of Some Monocotyledons. Biochem. J., 73: 507-514.
9,10,13-TRIHYDROXY-OCTADEC-11-ENOIC-ACID 0 Bulb *
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
Testosteronigenic 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Thymoprotective 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Thyrotropic 1 Medline (post 1990 searches filed in my computer)
TNF-alpha-Inhibitor 3 *
Topoisomerase-I-Inhibitor 2 Santti, R., Makela, S., Strauss, L., Korman, J., Kostian, M. L. 1998. Phytoestrogens: Potential Endocrine Disruptors in Males. Toxicol Ind Health, 14: 223-237.
Topoisomerase-II-Inhibitor 4 Constantinou, A., Mehta, R., Runyan, C., Rao, K., Vaughan, A., Moon, R. 1995. Flavonoids as DNA Topoisomerase Antagonists and Poisons: Structure-Activity Relationships. J Natural Products, 58: 217-225.
Tranquilizer 2 *
Tremorigenic 1 Martindale's 28th
Tremorilytic 1 Martindale's 28th
Trichomonicide 3 Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J., Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations, Revised Ed., Saffron Walden, the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., Essex UK, 362 pp, 1988, reprint 1989.
Triglycerigenic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Triglycerolytic 2 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.
Trypanosomastat 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.
Tumor-Promoter 2 Jim Duke's personal files.
Tumorigenic 2 Jim Duke's personal files.
Tyrosinase-Inhibitor 4 *
Tyrosine-Kinase-Inhibitor 1 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 170.
Ubiquiot 7 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Ulcerogenic 3 HerbalGram No. 20, page 9.
Urease-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.