Chemical composition of unripe and ripe berry essential oils of Juniperus communis L. growing wild in Vilnius district

Institute of Chemistry, A. Gostauto 9, LT-01108 Vilnius, Lithuania Fax: +370-5 2649774. E-mail: ritabutk@takas.lt Unripe and ripe berries from five individual plants of Juniperus communis L. growing wild in Vilnius district were collected in four localities in 2003. Essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation were analysed using the GC and GC/MS methods. All oils were of α-pinene (39.7–64.9%) chemotype. Myrcene was the second major constituent (4.8–19.6%). αCadinol (2.7–7.1%) was the third main compound in eight essential oils and the fourth in two oils. The amounts of α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene and bornyl acetate decreased during ripening of berries. An opposite correlation was determined for myrcene, terpinen-4-ol and α-terpineol. Monoterpene hydrocarbons (61.4–80.8%) prevailed in the essential oils. The part of hydrocarbons decreased markedly in berries of four from five juniper plants during ripening. The major part (81.5–88.6%) of essential oils comprised compounds (including esters) with four carbon skeletons: 2.6-dimethyloctane, menthane, pinane and cadinane. The identified compounds made up 94.8–99.4% of the essential oils.