Chemical composition of essential oils obtained from plant parts of Alpinia calcarata Rosc. (lesser galangal) germplasm from south India

Abstract

Alpinia calcarata Rosc. (Zingiberaceae) is an important medicinal plant of India. Chemical profiles of volatile oils isolated from rhizomes, roots and aerial shoots of A. calcarata germplasm from southern India were investigated by gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID) and GC–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Oxygenated monoterpenoids were identified as the major oil constituents in all parts of A. calcarata oil, represented mainly by 1,8-cineole, α-fenchyl acetate, α-terpineol, camphor, terpinen-4-ol and borneol. Rhizome oil was characterized by the presence of the two most abundant oxygenated monoterpenoids, 1,8-cineole (13.0–30.2%) and α-fenchyl acetate (26.3–38.7%). On the other hand, the root oil showed α-fenchyl acetate (49.8–61.6%) as the major constituent, followed by 1,8-cineole (4.2–16.6%) camphene (1.7–9.8%), borneol (5.2–7.5%) and carotol (2.3–4.5) whereas aerial shoots oil showed 1,8-cineole (8.1–30.7%) camphor (3.5–16.1%), α-fenchyl acetate (7.6–16.9%), α-terpineol (4.3–11.0%) and carotol (4.6–16.7%) as the major constituents. Variations recorded in essential oil compositions of different plant parts of A. calcarata can be used as chemotaxonomic markers, as well as for their utilization in food flavoring, in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.