Chemical composition of leaf oils of Myristica beddomeii (King), Myristica fragrans (Houtt.) and Myristica malabarica (Lamk.)

Abstract

Essential oil constituents of leaves of three Myristica species namely, Myristica beddomeii, M. fragrans and M. malabarica were determined by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. M. fragrans was dominated by monoterpenes (91%), M. beddomeii contained mono- (48%) and sesquiterpenes(35%) whereas M. malabarica was dominated by sesquiterpenes (73%). The leaf oil of M. beddomeii was dominated by α-pinene (19.59%), t-caryophyllene (14.63%) and β-pinene (12.46%). The leaf oil of M. fragrans contained sabinene (19.07%), α-pinene (18.04%), 4- terpineol (11.83%), limonene (8.32%) and β-pinene (7.92%) as major compounds, while tcaryophyllene (20.15%), α-humulene (10.17%), nerolidol (9.25%) and δ-cadinene (6.72%) were predominant in the oil of M. malabarica. Linalool, α-terpineol, t-caryophyllene, β-elemene and γ- elemene were present in all the three species. This is the first report on the essential oil composition of M. beddomeii leaves.