Chemical composition of essential oil of Cinnamomum tamala Nees et Eberm. leaves

A hydrodistilled oil obtained from the leaves of Cinnamomum tamala Nees et Eberm., grown in India, was analysed by capillary GC and GC-MS. The leaf volatile oil contained 40 constituents, of which a high proportion were monoterpenes (65.6%). The predominant monoterpenes were trans-sabinene hydrate (29.8%), (Z)-beta-ocimene (17.9%), myrcene (4.6%), alpha-pinene (3.1%) and beta-sabinene (2.3%). Among 21 sesquiterpenes (32.9%), the major ones were germacrene A (11.3%) and alpha-gurjunene (4.7%). Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.