AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL PLANTS OF MOROCCO: CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF ESSENTIAL OILS OF Rosmarinus officinalis AND Juniperus Phoenicea

The chemical composition of essential oils obtained from Rosmarinus officinalis (family Lamiaceae) and Juniperus Phoenicea (family Cupressaceae) were determined. Their essential oil was determined by hydro-distillation, analysed by GC/MS and GC-FID. The analyses for leaves of Rosmarinus officinalis resulted in the identification of twenty three compounds, representing 63.81% of the total oil and the yields were 0.54%. The major component was α-pinene (18.25%); other predominant components were camphor (6.02%), 1.8-cineole (5.25%), camphene (5.02%), β-pinene (4.58%), bornylacetate (4.35%), limonene (3.56%), borneol (3.10%), α-terpineol (2.89%) and cymene (2.02%). Twenty tree compounds were identified in leaves oil of Juniperus phoenicea representing 81.87% of the total oil composition. The yield of essential oil was 1.62% and the major compound in aerial parts was α-pinene (49.15%) followed by α-phyllandrene (7.39%), mycene (5.24%), β-pinene (3.58%), linalool (2.54%), piperitone (1.56%), γ-terpinene (1.28%), Trans-pinocarveole (1.23%) ρ-cymene (1.10%), α terpineol (1.02%) and γ-cardinene (1.01%).