Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Rosmarinus officinalis Cultivated in the Algerian Sahara

Abstract

The volatile compounds obtained by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of Rosmarinus officinalis cultivated at the Algerian Sahara were analyzed by GC/MS. Thirty compounds were characterized representing 98.2% of the essential oil with 1,8-cineole (29.5%), 2-ethyl-4,5-dimethylphenol (12.0%) and camphor (11.5%) as the major components.

Full text

1) Laboratoire d′Obtention de Substances Therapeutiques (LOST), Faculte des Sciences, Universite Mentouri -
Constantine, Campus Chaabet Ersas, 25000 Constantine, Algerie, Fax 213 31 63 53 52, e-mail: zkabouche@hotmail.com;
2) Universite de Rennes 1, U.M.R./C.N.R.S. N 6509, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes cedex, France. Published in Khimiya
Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 25-26, January-February, 2004. Original article submitted January 14, 2004.
0009-3130/04/4001-0028
©
2004 Plenum Publishing Corporation
28
Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vol. 40, No. 1, 2004
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL OF
Rosmarinus officinalis CULTIVATED IN THE ALGERIAN SAHARA
O. Touafek
1
, A. Nacer
1
, A. Kabouche
1
,
UDC 547.913
Z. Kabouche
1
, and C. Bruneau
2
The volatile compounds obtained by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of
Rosmarinus officinalis
cultivated
at the
A
lgerian Sahara were analyzed by GC/MS. Thirty compounds were characterized representing 98.2%
of the essential oil with 1,8-cineole (29.5%), 2-ethyl-4,5-dimethylphenol (12.0%) and camphor (11.5%) as the
major components.
Key words
:
Rosmarinus officinalis
, essential oil, GC/MS.
Rosmarinus
is one of the oldest known medicinal plants in Algeria. It is used as an antispasmolytic and as a flavor
and fragrance ingredient in the food.
We identified 30 compounds in the hydrodistilled oil of
Rosmarinus officinalis
, cultivated at Oued Souf (Algerian
Sahara), with 1,8-cineole (29.5%), 2-ethyl-4,5-dimethylphenol (12.0%), camphor (11.5%), borneol (9.4%), (+)-
α
-terpineol
(9.2%),
α
-pinene (7.5%), and camphene (5%) as the main components (Table 1). These results are in agreement with the
reported essential oils of Italian R. officinalis [1] mainly composed of 1,8-cineole (43.3%),
α
-pinene (18.6%), borneol (8.96%),
β
-pinene (6.79%), (+)-
α
-terpineol (3.59%), and the Spanish species [2] mainly represented by camphor (40.85%), 1,8-cineole
(12.20%), and borneol (7.62%).
EXPERIMENTAL
GC analyses were performed using a Perkin–Elmer gas chromatograph equipped with two FID, a data handling system,
and a vaporizing injector port into which two columns of different polarities were installed: a DB-1 fused silica column
(30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., film thickness 0.25 mm) and a DB-Wax fused silica column (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., film thickness
0.25 mm). Oven temperature was programmed, 45–175°C at 3°C min
–1
, subsequently at 15°C min
–1
up to 300°C, and then held
isothermal (15 min); carrier gas, He at 30 cm/min. GC chiral analyses were performed using a Perkin–Elmer gas chromatograph
equipped with a FID, a data handling system, a Cyclodex-B fused-silica column (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., film thickness 0.25 mm),
and a DB-Wax fused silica column (30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., film thickness 0.25 mm). Oven temperature was 75°C, isothermal,
injector and detector temperatures, 230°C and 240°C, respectively; carrier gas, He at 42 cm/min.
GC-MS analyses were performed on a Perkin–Elmer apparatus equipped with a DB-1 fused silica column
(30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., film thickness 0.25 mm) and interfaced with an ion trap detector (ITD; software 4.1). Injector temperature
MS operating parameters were as follows: ion trap temperature, 220°C; split ratio1:40; ionization potential, 70 e
V
; ionization
current, 60 mA; scan range, 40–300 a.m.u, scan time, 1 s.
Identification of components was done by comparison of the retention indices (RI) relative to C
9
–C
17
n-alkanes and
MS with the corresponding database (NIST library) and with mass spectral literature [3–5]. Relative percentage amounts of the
identified components were calculated from the total ion chromatograms by a computerized integrator.

29
TABLE 1. Composition of the Essential Oil of Rosmarinus officinalis
Compound Percentage RRI* Compound Percentage RRI*
α
-Thujene
α
-Pinene
Camphene
β
-Pinene
2,7-Dimethylocta-2,6-dienol
1,8-Cineole
γ
-Terpinene
trans
-Sabine hydrate
Fenchol
Camphor
Borneol
Cryptone
α
-Terpinenol
0.1
7.5
5.0
3.2
4.0
29.5
0.1
0.4
0.2
11.5
9.4
0.1
9.2
924
930
938
963
1009
1015
1035
1037
1065
1095
1134
1148
1159
(D)-Verbenone
Bornylacetate
Thymol
2-Ethyl-4,5-Dimethylphenol
2-Tridecane
Eugenol
β
-Caryophyllene
Germacrene D
β
-Caryophyllene oxide
Isoaromadendrene epoxide
Alloaromadendrene oxide
α
-Bisabolol
0.1
3.0
0.2
12.0
0.2
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.7
1.4
0.4
1170
1180
1275
1305
1318
1327
1414
1474
1581
1590
1595
1656
______
*Relative Retention Indices calculated against n-alkanes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We are grateful to Mr. Christophe Rogemont (Perkin–Elmer Company, Courtaboeuf, France) for his kind help and
Mr. Rachid Touzani (University of Ottawa, Chemistry Department) for the bibliographical complements.
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