Chemotaxonomical markers in essential oil of Murraya koenigii

The composition of the essential oils of Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng, cultivated at six locations in Peninsula Malaysia and Borneo are presented. The oils were obtained from fresh leaves by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS); 61 compounds were identified, of which eleven were present in all the specimens analyzed. The two major volatile metabolites were identified as beta-caryophyllene (16.6-26.6%) and alpha-humulene (15.2-26.7%) along with nine minor compounds identified as beta-elemene (0.3-1.3%), aromadendrene (0.5-1.5%), beta-selinene (3.8-6.5%), spathulenol (0.6-2.7%), caryophyllene oxide (0.7-3.6%), viridiflorol (1.5-5.5%), 2-naphthalenemethanol (0.7-4.8%), trivertal (0.1-1.0%) and juniper camphor (2.6-8.3%). The results suggest that beta-caryophyllene and alpha-humulene could be used as chemotaxonomical markers for Malaysian M. koenigii, hence these specimens could be of the same stock and different from the ones in India, Thailand and China.