Essential Oil Composition of Centaurea kilaea Boiss. and C. cuneifolia Sm. from Turkey

Abstract

Essential oil composition of Centaurea kilaea flowers, stems and C. cuneifolia flowers were investigated by GC, GC/MS. Flowers and stems of C. kilaea afforded very low essential oil yield <0.01% (v/w). Nineteen and twenty compounds were identified in the flower and stem oils which represent 59.5% and 77.6% of the C. kilaea oil respectively. The main components of the C. kilaea flower oil were hexadecanoic acid 26.2%, tetradecanoic acid 18.1%, ?-Eudesmol 3.3% and decanoic acid 3.1%. The stem oil contains hexadecanoic acid 55.5% and ?-Eudesmol 3.2%. Flowers of C. cuneifolia afforded very low essential oil yield <0.01% (v/w). Twenty five compounds were identified in the flower oil of C. cuneifolia which represent 69.92% of the oil. The main components of this oil include hexadecanoic acid 32.9%, tetradecanoic acid 14.4%, heptacosane 6.1% and nonacosane 4.3%. Essential oils obtained from both species have saturated fatty acids and alkanes as the major components, but both oils also contain minor amounts of sesquiterpenes