Planta Med 2011; 77 - PE21
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282352

Phytochemical analysis of essential oil from Rosmarinus officinalis L. of Iran

F Nazari 1, S Shaabani 2, H Khiry 3
  • 1Department of Phytochemistry, Academic Centre for Education Culture & Research, Research Institute for Applied Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  • 2Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
  • 3Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center of Hamadan, Hamadan, Iran

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) belongs to the family Lamiaceae (Labiatae) and has been a very important medicinal and aromatic plant since earliest times. It is a small evergreen which grows in most Mediterranean countries, southern Europe and in the littoral region through Minor Asia areas wildly.The main producers are Italy, Dalmatia, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, France, Portugal and North Africa. Rosemary is a food flavoring and medicinal herb for its powerful antibacterial, antimutagenic properties, and as a chemopreventive agent. Owing to its antioxidant properties of leaves, R. officinalis has been widely accepted as one of the spices with the highest antioxidant activity. Rosemary essential oil is also used as an antibacterial, antifungal and anticancer agent [1, 2, 3].

The aerial parts of R. officinalis grown at Hamadan in the west of Iran were hydrodistilled for 3 hours, using a Clevenger-type apparatus to yield 2.08% (w/w) of pale yellow oil. The essential oil was dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored in a sealed vial at +4°C until analysis. The oil was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The constituents of the essential oil were identified by comparison of their mass spectra and retention indices (RI) with those given in the literature and authentic samples [4].

Twenty-nine compounds were characterized in the essential oil of Rosmarinus officinalis, representing 98.5% of the oil, of which α- pinene (22.4%), 1,8-cineole (10.8%), verbenone (10.2%), camphor (9.9), camphene (8.4%) were found to be the major components.

Acknowledgement: The authors acknowledge the financial contribution from the Research and Technology Deputy of ACECR (Academic Centre for Education Culture & Research) for supporting this research.

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3. Ozcan M M, Chalchat J (2008) Int J Food Sci Nutr 59: 691–698

4. Adams R P (2001) Identification of Essential oil Components by Gas Chromatography/Quadrupole Mass spectroscopy. Allured Publishing Crop. Carol stream, IL.