Composition of the essential oil of a new isomenthone-rich variant of geranium obtained from geraniol-rich cultivar of Pelargonium species

• Published in: The Journal of essential oil research Vol. 16; no. 2; pp. 85 - 88
• Main Authors: Saxena, G, Banerjee, S, Gupta, R, Laiq-ur-Rahman, Tyagi, B.R, Kumar, S, Mallavarapu, G.R, Ramesh, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Carol Stream Taylor & Francis Group 01-03-2004; Allured Publishing Corporation
• Subjects: 10-epi-γ-eudesmol; chemical composition; cultivars; decanoic acid; essential oil composition; essential oils; flavor enhancers; genotype; Geraniaceae; geraniol; Geranium; isomenthone; menthone; Pelargonium; Pelargonium sp; plant extracts; roots; volatile organic compounds
• ISSN: 1041-2905; 2163-8152
• DOI: 10.1080/10412905.2004.9698658

The hydrodistilled essential oil of the shoots of the geranium variant K-99 derived from the Pelargonium species 'Kunti,' a geraniol-rich cultivar that was found to be rich in isomenthone. The oil of this variant was found by GC and GC/MS analyses to have the major constituents menthone (2.7%), isomenthone (63.7%), decanoic acid (5.8%), 2-phenylethyl tiglate (2.1%) and 10-epi-gamma-eudesmol (5.0%). The oil of the parent 'Kunti' contained linalool (5.1%), isomenthone (8.2%), citronellol (13%), geraniol (31.9%), geranial (3.0%), decanoic acid (2.4%), geranyl propionate (2.3%), geranyl butyrate (3.2%), 10-epi-gamma-eudesmol (5.2%), citronellyl tiglate (2.4%) and geranyl tiglate (2.8%). The composition of the oil of K-99 differs from that of the oils of other isomenthone-rich strains of geranium reported earlier in that decanoic acid and an isomer of undecanoic acid were not reported in these oils.