Abstract:
The volatile constituents of the essential oil and absolute of Nyctanthes arbortristis L. flowers grown in the wet zone of Sri Lanka were investigated in this study. Hydro-distillation and solvent extraction methods were used to obtain the essential oil and the absolute respectively. The volatile samples were analysed by GC-MS techniques. This study led to the identification of 48 chemical constituents of the essential oil and 4 in the absolute. The essential oil composition was dominated by phytol (32.2%) and methyl palmitate (14.7%). Other well-known volatile constituents such as linalool (0.8%), eucarvone (0.9%), phytone (1.4%), nonadecane (2.3%), methyl myristate (1.1%), cis-9-tricosene (3.6%), n-pentacosane (1.6%) and geranylgeraniol (2.7%) were also identified in the essential oil. The absolute was dominated by butyl acetate (80.8%) followed by phenethyl acetate (1.7%), linalool oxide (1.4%) and 2-butoxyethyl acetate (1.4%).
