|
The effects
of drying on the chemical components of essential oils of
Calendula officinalis L.
Okoh O.O1,
Sadimenko A.P1, Asekun O.T2 and
Afolayan A.J2*
1Faculty
of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice,
South Africa.
2Department
of Chemistry, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
aafolayan@ufh.ac.za.
Accepted 22 February, 2008 |
|
Calendula officinalis
is a medicinal plant whose essential oils are used for
various purposes. The oils were extracted by
hydrodistillation from fresh leaves, dry leaves and fresh
flowers of the herb yielding 0.06, 0.03 and 0.09%,
respectively. The analysis of the oils by GC-MS revealed a
total of 30, 21 and 24 compounds from the fresh leaves, dry
leaves and the flowers in the same order. Sesquiterpenoids
dominated the fresh leaves (59.5%) and flowers (26%), while
the monoterpenes dominated the oil in the dry leaves
(70.3%). T-muurolol (40.9%) predominated in the fresh leaf
oil;
a-thujene
(19.2%) and
d-cadinene
(11.8%) were also present in high quantities. Whereas,
1,8-cineole (29.4%),
g-terpenene
(11.6%),
d-cadinene
(9.0%),
b-pinene
(6.9%) and
a-thujene
(6.3%) were the major components in the dry leaf oil. In the
fresh flower oil,
a-thujene
(15.9%),
d-cadinene
(13.1%) and
d-cadinene
(10.9%) were the major components. The significance of the
effect of drying on essential oil composition of this plant
is discussed.
Key words: Calendula officinalis, essential
oil, 1,8-cineole, T-muurolol. |
