Alaska Yellow Cedar Leaf Oil
On rare occasions, an oil of Alaskan cedar leaf (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis (D. Don) Spach.) is produced in North America and offered for sale commercially. A survey of the early literature reveals that the oil was thought to contain α-pinene, β-pinene, sabinene, limonene and p-cymene (Gildemeister and Hoffmann, 1956).
Cheng and von Rudloff (1970) compared the composition of Alaskan cedar leaf oil produced from the leaves of young trees grown in a greenhouse with oils produced from a 50–55-year-old tree and that of a commercial oil. All oils were produced by steam distillation, although the distillation times were not given. The results of this comparative study are shown in T-1. Trace amounts (<0.1%) of α-cubebene; α-copaene; p-cymen-8-ol; isoprenyl senecoate; pentadecane; prenyl tiglate or angelate; nonadecane, tetradecanal, cedrol, heneicosane, abieta-7,13-diene, dehydroabietadiene, pentacosane, 8,13-diepi- manoyl oxide and docosanal were also characterized in one or all of these oils.
