Flavour volatiles of flowers and stalks of Murraya koenigii L.

The volatiles of fresh leaf stalks and flowers of Murraya koenigh (curry leaf plant), grown in Hyderabad, India, were isolated by simultaneous distillation and extraction method and analysed by GC-MS. Thirty-one components were identified in the leaf stalk oil, constituting 88.1% of the volatile oil. The major components were the mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (66.7%), of which the major ones were alpha-pinene (24.2%), beta-pinene (6.9%), alpha-phellandrene (7.3%) and alpha-copaene (8.9%). In addition, the oil had nine oxygenated monoterpenes (14.2%) and four sesquiterpene alcohols (8.1%). In the flower oil, 24 components were identified, constituting 91.8% of the volatile oil. Here, too, the major constituents were mono- and sesquiterpenes (87%), of which cis-ocimene (34.1%), alpha-pinene (19.1%), gamma-terpinene (6.7%) and beta-caryophyliene (9.5%) were predominant. It also contained seven oxygenated monoterpenes and three oxygenated sesquiterpenes, constituting 4.7% of the oil. The larger number of oxygenated mono- and sesquiterpenes present appear to be responsible for the intense odour associated with the stalk and flower parts of Murraya koenigii as compared to the leaf. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.