Chemical composition of essential oils of Origanum vulgare L. growing in Lithuania

Abstract

Twenty essential oils of all aerial parts, inflorescences and leaves of cultivated Origanum vulgare L. were analyzed by capillary gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The main constituents in 6 out of 7 samples of inflorescence oils were sabinene (8.7–19.5%), β- caryophyllene (15.4–24.9%) and germacrene D (12.3–16.0%) and in the same quantity of the leaf oils – β-caryophyllene (15.9–21.3%), germacrene D (12.1–15.7%) and caryophyllene oxide (4.7–11.1%). The amount of phenols, thymol and carvacrol, was 0–3.9 %. The chemical composition with a low concentration of phenols of the above oregano disagreed with the data on high concentrations of these compounds reported in some books describing Lithuanian medical and aromatical plants. The major part (60.5–90.5%) of the oils (except commercial plants) consisted of mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons. The identified constituents made up 79.5–98.0% of the essential oils. Keywords: Origanum vulgare L., composition of essential oil, sabinene, β-caryophyllene, germacrene D, caryophyllene oxide