Determination of Volatile Constituents of the Essential Oil and Absolute of Nyctanthes arbortristis L. Flowers Grown in Sri Lanka

The volatile constituents of the essential oil and absolute of Nyctanthes arbortristis L. flowers grown in Sri Lanka were investigated. Hydro-distillation and solvent extraction were used to obtain the essential oil and the absolute respectively. The volatile samples were analyzed by capillary GC-FID and 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 %).