Chemical composition on essential oils from needles of Pinus sylvestris L. grown in northern Lithuania

Abstract

Content and composition of needle essential oils of Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) grown in the north of Lithuania have been studied. Volatile components of dried current-year and 1 year old needles were extracted by simultaneous hydrodistillation-extraction and analyzed by GC and GUMS. The most predominant fraction was found to be monoterpene hydrocarbons (26.4-41.3%), with the major constituents alpha-pinene (7.0-16.1 %) and delta-3-carene (5.2-14.3 %) in it. Among the oxygenated monoterpenes bornyl acetate was tire most dominant constituent (1.1-3.9 %). Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons formed 19.4-26.0 % of the oils; amounts of main sesquiterpenes beta-caryophyllene and delta-cadinene were 2.6-5.8 % and 2.3-5.9 %, respectively. alpha-Cadinol (4.2-8.5 %) and epi-alpha-cadinol with epi-alpha-muurolol and alpha-muurolol (4.0-9.1 %) were the major compounds in oxygenated sesquiterpenes fraction. Diterpenoids (including and tentitatively identified compound) comprised 6.2-13.7 % of the oils. Also, differences in composition of current-year and 1 year old needles were represented in the study. Seventy-one identified component made up 89.1-98.2 % of total oil content. One sample of fresh needles was analyzed in order to compare the composition with oils obtained from dried needles. Relative amount of monoterpene hydrocarbons was significantly higher (71.0 %) in the oil of fresh needles.