Composition of the essential oils from rhizome and aerial parts of Dictamnus albus from Spain

Dictamnus albus L. (Rutaceae) is a European medicinal plant which use dates back to the classical Greco-Roman period. It is found in the Center and North-East of Spain. In the present work, the composition of the essential oils from the rhizome and the aerial parts of D. albus from Spain is reported for the first time. The oils were obtained by hidrodistillation from dried plant material collected from wild. They were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS using two columns of different polarity and their constituents were identified by comparison of their mass spectra and two different types of retention indices (determined in relation to homologous series of fatty acid methyl esters and n-alkanes, respectively) with those of literature data and our own data bases. The main constituents of the oil from aerial parts were estragole (23%), germacrene D (22%), bicyclogermacrene (8%), spathulenol (5%), γ-palmitolactone (4%), phytol (3%) and palmitic acid (3%). In the essential oil from the rhizome, estragole (22%), γ-palmitolactone (8%), geijerene (6%) and thymyl methyl ether (3%) were the major constituents identified. In addition, both oils contain an unidentified angelicine type furanocoumarin which accounts for 18% of the rhizome oil and 2% of the aerial parts oil.