Volatile composition of the peel and leaf essential oils of Citrus nobilis Lour. var deliciosa Swingle

Abstract

The fruits and leaves of Citrus nobilis Lour. var deliciosa Swingle were collected from south of Iran and their essential oils were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). The oil yields of the fresh peel and leaves obtained separately by hydrodistillation were 1.2 and 0.2% (V/W), respectively. 17 components accounting for 99.2% of the peel oil and 34 components accounting for 98.5% of the leaf oil were identified. The main classes of compounds were found to be monoterpenes [monoterpene hydrocarbons (96.0%) and monoterpene alcohols (1.8%)] in the peel oil and monoterpenes [monoterpene hydrocarbons (47.6%), monoterpene alcohols (36.9%)] and sesquiterpenes [sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (2.9%) and sesquiterpene alcohols (3.7%)] in the leaf oil. The major constituent of the peel oil were limonene (87.8%) and γ-terpinene (6.1%), while the major constituents of the leaf oil were linalool (32.8%), sabinene (28.8), (E)-β-ocimene (6.2%) and limonene (5.2%).

Key words: Citrus nobilis Lour., chemical composition, essential oils, class composition.