Progress in Essential Oils

By: Brian M. Lawrence

Posted: April 4, 2006, from the April 2006 issue of P&F magazine.

Lemon Oil

A steam-distilled oil produced from the peels of Citrus limon grown in the Republic of Benin, West Africa, was analyzed by Ayedoun et al. (1996) using GC on two columns of different polarity and GC/MS. The composition of the oil was found to be as follows:

alpha-thujene (0.3 percent)

alpha;-pinene (1.8 percent)

camphene (0.1 percent)

sabinene (t)

beta-pinene (4.2 percent)

octanal (0.1 percent)

myrcene (1.8 percent)

alpha-phellandrene (0.1 percent)

alpha-terpinene (0.3 percent)

p-cymene (0.4 percent)

1,8-cineole (3.3 percent)

limonene (70.4 percent)

(Z)-beta-ocimene (0.2 percent)

(E)-beta-ocimene (0.3 percent)

gamma-terpinene (11.8 percent)

terpinolene (0.8 percent)

linalool (0.1 percent)

alpha-fenchol (t)

cis-beta-terpineol (0.1 percent)

borneol (t)

terpinen-4-ol (0.7 percent)

alpha-terpineol (1.4 percent)

decanal (t)

citronellol (t)

neral (t)

geranial (t)

beta-caryophyllene (0.3 percent)

trans-alpha-bergamotene (0.3 percent)

alpha-humulene (t)

germacrene D (0.2 percent)

(E,E)-alpha-farnesene (0.2 percent)

beta-bisabolene (0.5 percent)

delta-cadinene (0.1 percent)

t = trace (< 0.6 percent)

This is only an excerpt of the full article that appeared in P&F Magazine, but you can purchase the full-text version.