Isolation and Chemical Characterization of Essential oil of Saussurea simpsoniana

A B S T R A C T Inflorescence of Saussurea simpsoniana (Asteraceae) grown in Himalayas were used traditionally in treatment of fever, snake bite etc.The present work was undertaken to extract essential oil from Saussurea simpsoniana and identifying its chemical composition.Essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation. Chemical constituents of the essential oil were separated and identified by means of gas chromarography / Mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The chromatographic analysis of oil showed the presence of totally 18 constituents. The main components were 5, 8, 11, 14, 17- eicosapentaenoic acid methyl ester (65.42%), 9, 12, 15- octadecatrien-1-ol (14.64%), caryophyllene oxide (2.19%), cedren-13-ol (2.12%) and verrucarol (1.96%). The remaining 13 compounds were found to be in minute quantities. The physicochemical properties of the oil were determined as Specific gravity 1.023g/cc, Specific rotation 21.02, Optical rotation 0.0214 and Refractive index 1.5216. The study indicates that sesquiterpenoids are major components accounting for 88% in the isolated oil. Physicochemical standards were determined for the isolated oil.