Volatiles from herbs and spices 205
Table 11.16 Composition of nutmeg and mace oil
Compound Composition
Nutmeg oil Mace oila-Pinene 14.72 15.24
b-Pinene + Sabinene 62.66 45.52
a-Phellandrene 3.06 3.17
D^3 -Carene 0.60 0.67
a-Terpinene + P-Cymene 1.08 3.53
1,8-Cineole + Limonene 6.18 6.97
b-Phellandrene 1.08 2.80
g-Terpinene 0.54 1.83
Linalool + Terpinolene 0.48 0.42
b-Terpineol 0.25 0.32
Borneol (tentative) 0.05 0.16
Terpinen-4-ol 1.85 4.59
a-Terpineol + Piperitol 0.36 0.94
Geraniol 0.02 0.22
Safrole + p-Cymene-8-ol 0.53 0.67
Bornyl acetate 0.07 0.09
Methyl eugenol 0.14 0.22
Eugenol + terpenyl acetate 0.22 0.15
Geranyl acetate + a-Copaene 0.29 0.16
Isoeugenol (cis) 0.31 0.45
b-Caryophyllene + isoeugenol (trans) 0.07 0.07
a-Humulene 0.02 0.03
d-Cadinene 0.08 0.15
Myristicin 3.28 5.92
Elemicin 1.38 3.14
Myristic acid 0.01 0.01
Trimyristin 0.06 0.05
Source: Gopalakrishnan (1992).
officinalis) indicated that higher drying temperature decreased the essential oil content
(% v/w) from 2.13 (40 ∞C) to 1.62 (60 ∞C) and 1.09% (80 ∞C). Essential oil composition
was similar, except for camphor at 40 ∞C and 60 ∞C. However, concentrations of
alpha-pinene, beta-myrcene and camphor were decreased at 40 ∞C and 80 ∞C (Blanco
et al. 2002).
Tucker and Maciarello (1986) reported a-pinene, camphene, 1,8-cineole, camphor,
bornyl acetate and borneol as the major compounds in five varieties of rosemary oil.
Rosemary oil from Argentina contained 20 components of which the major ones
were a-pinene, myrcene, 1,8-cineole, camphor and b-caryophyllene (Mizaahi et al.
1991). Lawrence (1995) reported that rosemary oil from Spain and Portugal contained
30–50% oxygenated monoterpenes where as the oils of Moroccan, Tunisian and
Yugoslavian origin contained 70–80% oxygenated monoterpenes.
Rao et al. (1998) compared the oil loss in rosemary leaves by convection and
microwave drying methods. The loss of volatile oil was less (7.25%) during convection
drying while microwave drying led to a loss of 61.45%. The volatile oil of fresh
rosemary contained mostly monoterpenes and their derivatives (95–98%). The major
components of rosemary leaf oil were camphor (23.9–34.0%) and 1,8-cineole (15.5–
29.8%).
Boutekedjiret et al. (2003) reported that oil yield from the hydrodistilled herbage