Volatile Constituents from the Leaves and Flowers of Murraya koenigii (Linn.) Spreng.

The volatiles of fresh leaf and flower of Murraya koenigii, grown in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala were isolated by simultaneous distillation and extraction method and analysed by high resolution GC and GC-MS. Fifty two constituents were identified in the leaf oil, comprising 98.45% of the volatiles. The major components were monoterpene hydrocarbons (19.67%) and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (72.96%) of which beta-caryophyllene (45.92%) is the major one followed by beta-bisabolene (9.79%), gamma-muurolene (9.075%), eudesmane (5.33%), alpha-pinene (6.04%) and limonene (8.53%). In the flower oil, 50 components were identified, constituting 90.66% of the volatile oil. Here too, the major constituents were monoterpene hydrocarbons (60.67%) and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (11.99%), and Limonene (37.17%) and camphene (14.87%) are the major constituents. Apart from this the flower oil contains quite number of alcohols and esters compared to that of leaf oil.