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Planta Med 1999; 65(2): 187-189
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-960465
Letters

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Composition of the Essential Oils of Ocimum canum, O. gratissimum and O. minimum

Ana Paula Martins1 , Lígia R. Salgueiro1 , Roser Vila2 , Félix Tomi3 , Salvador Cañigueral2 , Joseph Casanova3 , António Proença da Cunha1 , Tomás Adzet2
  • 1Lab. de Farmacognosia, Fac. de Farmácia, Universidade de Coimbra, R. do Norte, Coimbra, Portugal
  • 2Unitat de Farmacologia i Farmacognòsia, Fac. de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • 3Equipe Chimie et Biomasse, URA CNRS 2053, Université de Corse, Ajaccio, France
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Publication History

1998

1998

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

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Abstract

The essential oils of Ocimum canum, O. gratissimum and O. minimum grown in S. Tomé, where they are used in Traditional Medicine mainly as febrifuge and for the treatment of respiratory diseases, were investigated. The essential oils were obtained from the aerial parts by hydrodistillation and subsequently analysed by GC, GC-MS and 13C-NMR. 13C-NMR spectroscopy proved to be an important tool, which can be very useful in the identification of most of the constituents. Major compounds in the volatile oil of O. grotissimum were thymol (48.1%) and p-cymene (12.5%). The essential oil of O. canum was characterized by its high content of trans-methyl cinnamate (79.7%), whereas the most important oil constituent of O. minimum was linalool (52.7%).

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