FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNALFlavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 408–410DOI: 10.1002/ffj.1024

Essential oil composition of Zanthoxylum alatum seedsfrom northern India

Neetu Jain,1 S. K. Srivastava,1Ł K. K. Aggarwal,1 S. Ramesh2 and Sushil Kumar1

1 Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, PO CIMAP, Lucknow 226015, India2 Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Field Station, GKVK PO, Bangalore 560065, India

Received 9 January 2001Revised 6 April 2001Accepted 18 May 2001

ABSTRACT: The seeds of Zanthoxylum alatum Roxb., on hydrodistillation, gave 1.5% of oil (v/w). GC andGC–MS analysis of the oil resulted in the identification of 56 constituents, representing 99.5% of the oil. Linalool(71%), limonene (8.2%), ˇ-phellandrene (5.7%) and (Z)-methylcinnamate (4.9%) were the major components. Itis suggested that the seeds of Z. alatum can be used as a commercial source for the isolation of linalool. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

KEY WORDS: Zanthoxylum alatum Roxb.; Rutaceae; essential oil; linalool; (Z)-methyl cinnamate

Introduction

Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae) is a large genus of over 200species of aromatic plants. Most of the plants of thisgenus are dioecious, pantropical in distribution and bearsharp thorns on either the stem or the foliage. Zanthoxy-lum spp. are used in the Americas, India, China, Japanand Africa for medicinal and culinary purposes. About13 species are recorded from India.1 Zanthoxylum ala-tum (syn. Z. armatum DC, Z. planispinum Sieb.) is anevergreen shrub or small tree up to 12 m height. Theplant is widely distributed in the hot valleys of the sub-tropical Himalayas, trans-Indus Punjab along the footof the Himalayas from the Indus eastward, up to analtitude of 5000 ft, Kumaon 5000–7000 ft, eastward upto Bhutan 3500–4000 ft.1,2 The fruits of Z. alatum areconsidered to be anthelminthic, stimulating and fish poi-soning. The powdered fruits, when mixed with vinegar,provide a treatment for dental diseases and scabies. Theplant is an insecticide. A decoction of the roots is usedto treat poisonous snake bites and also to treat diseasesof the digestive system. The powdered seeds are takenas an aromatic tonic, stomachic, in fever, dyspepsia andcholera. The volatile oil has the characteristics of euca-lyptus oil and is employed as an antiseptic, a deodorantand an anticatarrhal.3

The chemical composition of the oil from seeds,4 fromthe fruits collected from the wild5 and from market,6

from the pericarp of the wild fruit7 and from theleaves, terminal branches and aerial parts8–10 have been

*Correspondence to: S. K. Srivastava, Central Institute of Medicinaland Aromatic Plants, PO CIMAP, Lucknow 226016, India.

analysed. Dubey et al. (1970)4 reported the presence oflinalool (34.5%) as a major constituents in the seeds oilof Z. alatum, but recently Ramidi et al.1 reported thepresence of linalool to an extent of 87.7% along with 30other constituents. This drastic variation in the linaloolcontent of the seeds oils prompted us to investigate thefurther from the seeds.

Experimental

Plant Material

The dried seeds of Z. alatum were purchased from thelocal market in Lucknow and identified by the Scientist,Botany Division, CIMAP, Lucknow. A voucher speci-men has been deposited in the Herbarium of our institute.

Gas Chromatography (GC)

GC analysis of the oil was performed on a Perkin-Elmer GC 8500, using a fused silica capillary column(25 m ð 0.55 mm, film thickness 0.25 µm), coated withdimethyl siloxane (BP-1). Oven temperature was pro-grammed from 60 °C to 220 °C at 5 °C/min and then heldisothermal at 220 °C for 15 min; injector temperature,250 °C; detector temperature, 300 °C; carrier gas, nitro-gen at a linear velocity of 10 psi; split ratio, 1 : 80.

Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry(GC–MS)

GC–MS data were obtained on a Perkin-Elmer TurboMass Spectrometer, using a PE-Wax column (60 m ð

Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION OF ZANTHOXYLUM ALATUM 409

0.32 mm i.d., film thickness, 0.25 µm); carrier gas;helium; temperature programming, 5 min at 70 °C, thenrising at 2 °C/min to 120 °C and at 3 °C/min to 240 °C.

Identification of Compounds

Compounds were identified by comparing the reten-tion indices of peaks on BP-1 column with literaturevalues,11–15 computer matching against the library spec-tra built up using pure substances and components ofknown essential oils, and finally confirmed by compar-ison of the mass spectra of the peaks with publisheddata.16 The relative amounts of individual componentsare based on peak areas, obtained without FID responsefactor correction. The Kovats retention indices wereobtained from gas chromatograms by logarithmic inter-polation between bracketing n-alkanes. The homologousseries of n-alkanes (C8–C22; Poly Science Inc., Niles,USA) were used as standards.

Results and Discussion

The volatile oil was obtained by hydrodistillation ofthe crushed seeds of Z. alatum on a Clevenger-typeapparatus, which gave an oil in 1.5% yield (v/w). GCand GC–MS analysis resulted in the identification ofa total of 56 constituents. The relative concentration

Table 1. Percentage composition of ess-ential oil from the seeds of Zanthoxylumalatum Roxb

Components RI Area %

˛-Thujene 922 0.1˛-Pinene 929 0.2Benzaldehyde 936 0.2Sabinene 965 0.3ˇ-Pinene 968 0.1Myrcene 981 1.0cis-3-Hexenyl acetate 992 0.1˛-Phellandrene 1003 0.2˛-Terpinene 1006 0.1ˇ-Phellandrene 1018 5.7Limonene 1018 8.2m-Cymene 1037 t(E)-ˇ-Ocimene 1043 t�-Terpinene 1047 0.5cis-Linalool oxide 1056 0.4trans-Linalool oxide 1070 0.4˛-Terpinolene 1075 0.2Linalool 1087 70.6Hotrienol 1089 0.9cis-Limonene oxide 1100 0.1trans-p-Menth-2-en-1-ol 1110 tCamphor 1117 0.1cis-p-Menth-2-en-1-ol 1124 tCryptone 1150 0.4Terpinene-4-ol 1156 1.4

Table 1. (Continued)

Components RI Area %

˛-Terpineol 1175 0.1Carvone 1218 0.2Piperitone 1230 0.1Geraniol 1241 0.5Phellandral 1250 tSafrol 1273 tLinalyl acetate 1295 tLinalyl propionate 1320 0.1(Z)-Methylcinnamate 1343 4.9˛-Cubebene 1354 t(E)-Methylcinnamate 1364 t(E)-ˇ-Caryophyllene 1405 0.7˛-Cadinene 1440 0.1˛-Humulene 1451 tallo-Aromadendrene 1470 tGermacrene D 1478 t˛-Muurolene 1484 t˛-Selinene 1496 0.1Cadinene 1504 0.1υ-Cadinene 1509 tSpathulenol 1561 0.4Caryophyllene oxide 1585 0.1Cubenol 1611 tT Cadinol 1616 0.1T Muurolol 1632 t˛-Cadinol 1646 0.1Tetradecanoic acid 1735 tCinnamyl-n-heptanoate 1909 0.4Oleic acid 1931 0.2Palmitic acid 1965 tPhytol 2106 0.1

a Compounds are listed in the order of elution on BP- 1column.

of the volatile components identified are presented inTable 1 according to their elution order on a BP-1 col-umn. The main constituents of the oil were found to belinalool (70.6%), limonene (8.2%) and ˇ-phellandrene(5.7%). The chemical composition of our seed oil wascomparable to that reported by Ramidi et al.1 in termsof its linalool and ˇ-phellandrene content. The majorconstituents in our and Ramidi’s oils were linalool(70.6% and 87.7%), ˇ-phellandrene (5.7% and 4.1%)and ˇ-caryophyllene (0.7 and 1.2%), respectively. How-ever, limonene (8.2%), (Z)-methylcinnamate (4.9%) andterpinene-4-ol (1.4%) occurred in substantial quantitiesonly in our oil.

The variation in the percentage composition of themain constituents may be due to variation in the agro-climatic conditions. It is worth mentioning that therewere quantitative similarities with the pericarp oil com-position,7 in that the main components were found to belinalool (72%), (E)-methylcinnamate (12.2%), limonene(6.2%) and ˇ-phellandrene (5.3%). On the basis of abovefacts, it is concluded that pericarp of the fruits and seedsof Z. alatum can be used as a commercial source for theisolation of linalool.

Acknowledgements—The authors are thankful to Dr Sunil Kumar,Perkin-Elmer, India, for GC–MS analysis.

Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 408–410

410 N. JAIN ET AL.

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Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2001; 16: 408–410