Diterpene-rich needle oil of Pinus pinaster Ait. from Corsica

The composition of 46 samples of needle oil of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Ait.) from Corsica was investigated by gas chromatography (GC) in combination with retention indices, GC-MS and C-13-NMR. Sixty compounds, accounting for 82.9-97.0% of the oil, were identified. The oils consisted mainly of mono-, sesqui- and diterpene hydrocarbons, especially a-pinene (6.4-29.4%),(E)-beta-caryophyllene (4.4-19.9%), germacrene D (1.7-21.4%) and abieta-7,13-diene (6.8-34.2%). Although the composition varied substantially from sample to sample, k-means partitioning and principal component analysis (PCA) of the compositional data suggested the occurrence of only one group within the 46 individual samples. The composition dominated by diterpene hydrocarbons (up to 61%) is reported for the first time. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.