Essential oils of Litsea monopetala (Roxb.) Pers. : a new report from India

Litsea monopetala (Roxb.) Pers. (Lauraceae) is a "muga" silk worm fodder tree in Northeast India, with the local name "sualu." The oils of this species, obtained by steam distillation of the fresh fruits, flowers and bark, were examined by high resolution GC and GC/MS for the first time. From the more than 50 compounds separated by GC, about 40 to 45 compounds have been identified in the various oils, accounting for 89.5% to 93.8% of the oils. The major components of the flower oil were a-caryophyllene alcohol (13.9%), pentacosane (11.4%), caryophyllene oxide (9.5%), humulene oxide (9.5%) and tricosane (8.1%). The more volatile fruit oil consisted mainly of decanal (26.7%), nonanol (16.8%) and capric acid (15.5%). The bark oil was mainly composed of aldehydes, alcohols and acids, of which tetradecanal (30.20/0), tridecanol (11.3%), myristic acid (10.5%) and tridecanal (9.4%) predOminated.