Chamomile is one of the most widely used and well-documented medicinal plants in the
world. Today it is a common ingredient in herbal teas because of its calming, carminative
and spasmolytic properties. It is also a popular ingredient in topical health and
beauty products because of its soothing and anti-inflammatory effects on skin. In
the U.S., chamomile is listed as generally recognized as safe, although allergic reactions
are documented.
Two species of chamomile are generally used in traditional herbalism, viz., Matricaria chamomilla (German chamomile) and Chamaemelum nobile (Roman chamomile). They are both members of compositae family, and have similar physical
appearance, chemical properties, and general applications. The research discussed
herein was designed to develop a GC/MS method to distinguish German chamomile from
Roman chamomile, and to identify and characterize the major compounds present in chamomile
essential oils. More than 70 compounds were identified by comparing the retention
time with the standard compounds, as well as mass spectrometry and NIST library searches.
The percentage composition of both Roman and German essential oils were calculated
from peak areas using a normalization method without correction factors. A series
of commercial oils were also analyzed for quality control purpose. The proposed GC/MS
method is useful for chemical fingerprint analysis and quality control of chamomile
essential oils.
Fig.1. GC/MS Fingerprint Chromatograms of German and Roman Chamomile Essential Oils
Acknowledgements
: This research is supported in part by Science Based Authentication of Dietary Supplements
funded by the Food and Drug Administration grant No. 1U01FD004246–01; the United States
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Specific Cooperative Agreement
No. 58–6408–2-0009, and the Global Research Network for Medicinal Plants (GRNMP),
King Saud University. References: [1] Raala A, et al. (2011) Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences 60(1):
55–63.
