Composition of the essential oils from the leaves of nine Pinus species and the cones of three of Pinus species

Abstract

AbstractThe essential oils from leaves of Pinus koraiensis, P. merkusii, P. palustris, P. parviflora, P. petula, P. ponderosa, P. pumila, P. rigida and P. rudis and cones of P. densiflora, P. rigida and P. taeda were investigated by GC–MS. Yields of the oils were 0.08–2.33 (w/w). α‐Pinene (0.2–51.8%) and β‐pinene (0.1–38.2%) were contained in both the leaf and cone oils of Pinus species. The monoterpene fractions of Pinus leaf oils comprised mainly pinanes and menthanes. Pinanes were present in greater amounts than menthanes in the leaf oils of all the species except P. petula. The leaves of P. pumila contained caranes as major components, whereas those of P. parviflora contained camphanes as major components. As for sesquiterpenes in the leaf oils, caryophyllane and/or the cadinane group were the major components. The leaf oils of P. merkusii, P. petula and P. rudis contained larger amounts of caryophyllanes than those of the cadinane group. The sesquiterpenes of these three species were mainly caryophyllanes, while in the sesquiterpene fraction of other Pinus species the content of the cadinane group was larger than that of caryophyllanes. Concerning cone oils, P. rigida and P. taeda cones were mainly composed of monoterpenes, while P. densiflora contained sesquiterpenes as the main components. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.