Essential oils and lipids from the flowers of two varieties of Ocimum basilicum L. cultivated in Uzbekistan

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the current work the flowers of green and dark purple Ocimum basilicum L. varieties cultivated in Uzbekistan were comparatively studied in terms of chemical composition of the lipids, essential oils and fatty acids by using TLC, GC-FID and GC-MS techniques. The lipid composition of flowers both basil varieties comprised biologically active substances such as unsaturated fatty acids, phospholipids, phytosterols, carotenoid pigments and essential oils. The flower volatiles were obtained by hydrodistillation technique and subjected to GC analysis. Enantiomeric status of chiral volatile compounds was determined by analysis on chiral RTex cyclodextrin column. It is revealed that the flowers of green and dark purple basil produce essential oils with a high abundance of oxygenated monoterpenes with linalool (52.4% and 72.3%, respectively) as a major constituent. The flower volatiles from the green basil were distinct from that of dark purple variety, having strong sweet-spicy odor due to higher percentage of phenylpropanoid methyl chavicol (19.5%).