Journal of Environmental Biology

Comparison of the volatile oil composition of three
Atalantia species

Arun K. Das and P.S. Swamy*

Department of Plant Science, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai-625 021, India

*Corresponding Author email : swamyps@yahoo.co.in

Publication Data

Paper received:

29 October 2011

Revised received:

03 April 2012

Re-revised received:

06 July 2012

Accepted:

08 August 2012

Abstract

The members of the genus Atalantia belonging to the family Rutaceae have many uses in traditional medicine. The aim of the present study was to investigate and compare the chemical composition of essential oils of three species of Atalantia namely Atalantia monophylla (Roxb.) DC., Atalantia racemosa Wight. and Atalantia wightii Tanaka. The extract percentage of the obtained essential oil was found to be 0.2, 0.17 and 0.31% in A. monophylla, A. racemosa and A. wightii respectively. The major compounds identified were a-Asarone (28.82%), Sabinene (13.19%), Eugenol methyl ether (12.71%), 1,2-Dimethoxy-4-(2-methoxyethenyl)benzene (11.63%) and b-Pinene (5.3%) in the essential oil of A. monophylla. In A. racemosa, T-Cadinol (11.08%), Caryophyllene oxide (9.78%), b-Caryophyllene (9.20%), Spathulenol (7.21%), b-Phellandrene (5.67%) and? Decanal (4.01%) and? in A. wightii b-Caryophyllene (16.37%), D-Limnonene (12.15%), Decanal (10.49%), b-Myrcene (7.67%), Tetradecanal (6.99%), Caryophyllene oxide (6.29%) and Hexadecylene oxide (5.87%) were the main constituents. Sesquiterpenes were the major class of compounds in A. racemosa and A. wightii, while in A. monophylla the essential oil was predominated by ether compounds. The results showed that GC/MS analysis of essential oils is a significant step in the bio-chemical profiling and bio-prospecting of Atalantia species.

Key words

Atalantia, Rutaceae, Essential oil, Sesquiterpenes

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