Volatile profiling from heartwood of East Indian sandalwood tree

Abstract

BackgroundVolatile aroma compounds are important characteristics determining essential oil quality. The heartwood of sandalwood tree, Santalum album L. deposits the sandalwood oil with enormous therapeutic potentials. The majority of the biological activities are attributed to the sesquiterpenoid alcohols i.e. santalols and hence, there is the need to explore the presence of other volatile bioactive constituents from heartwood. MethodsWe used a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method employing an ion trap quadrupole (ITQ) mass analyzer to identify and quantify volatiles from solvent extracted heartwood oil of the East Indian sandalwood tree, S. album L. ResultsA total of 46 constituents composed of a great variety of n-alkanes, sesquiterpenoids, fatty acids, aldehydes, naphthalene derivatives, methyl esters, alcohols, carotenoid degradation products, and acetates were identified. Oxygenated sesquiterpenoids, i.e., Z-α-santalol and epi-β-santalol and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons were identified as the major constituents in the extracted oil. ConclusionResults indicate that GC–ITQ–MS is a robust tool for qualitative and quantitative analysis of volatile constituents of the heartwood of sandalwood tree. Furthermore, the constituents reported may lead to the discovery of novel phytopharmaceuticals from sandalwood tree.