Chemical analyses of the essential oils of three Fortunella cultivars and a Greek traditional Kumquat Liqueur

Kumquats (Fortunella sp.) have long been used in traditional herbal medicine, for the treatment of colds and coughs [1] as well as in both the perfumery and food industry [2]. In this study, the oil content of kumquat peel, flower and leaf oils of three Fortunella species (F. japonica, F. margarita and F. crassifolia), cultivated in Greece was determined. From the oil from fruits of F. margarita, a traditional Greek Liqueur, has been produced. The volatiles from all species and the liqueur, were analysed by GC and GC/MS. The major compounds of all leaf oils were germacrene-D (9.0%-16.4%) and elemol (8.65%-13.17%), while in the flower oils limonene (27.75%-63.67%) was the most abundant constituent followed

by valencene (8.69%) for F. crassifolia and germacrene-D (4.79%) for F. japonica. Limonene was also the abundant constituent in peel oils, followed by β-pinene (6.31%) for F. crassifolia and myrcene for both F. japonica and F. margarita (5.34%, 7.79%, respectively). Significant differences among oil components from kumquat leaves, flowers and peels were observed. The analysis of the volatiles of the fruit liqueur resulted that linalool and limonene were the most abundant constituents (40.2%, 10.3% respectively). All oils and major compounds showed an interesting antimicrobial broad spectrum of activities as they have been assayed against nine bacteria and fungal strains and three foodborne pathogenic bacteria (MICs 0.05–1.5mg/ml)

Acknowledgements: University of Athens (Special Account for Research Grant (70/4/8807) as well as PAVET project (70/9075) and Korres NaturalProduct S.A.

References: [1] Yun, S. B. (1993) Research of Korean Food History; Shinkwang Publishing: Seoul, Korea, p 274. [2] Sawamura, M. (2000) J. Agric. Food Chem., 4: 131–4164.