Chemotaxonomical analysis of the essential oil aroma compounds of four different<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Ocimum</Emphasis> species from southern India

The essential oil aroma compounds of four different Ocimum species ( O. americanum, O. basilicum, O. gratissimum and O. sanctum) from southern India were analysed by solid phase microextraction (SPME)/gas chromatography (GC)/flame ionization detection (FID), SPME/GC/mass spectrometry (MS) and olfactoric evaluations. The essential oil of the whole plant of O. americanum is rich in ( E)-methyl cinnamate (72.05%), ( Z)-methyl cinnamate (9.11%), camphor (5.95%) and ß-selinene (3.43%); the essential leaf oil of O. basilicum contains ( E)-methyl cinnamate (34.49%), linalool (28.44%), camphor (13.08%), ( Z)-methyl cinnamate (6.90%) and geraniol (3.84%), whereas the essential leaf oil of O. gratissimum comprises eugenol (63.36%), ( Z)-ß-ocimene (9.11%), germacrene D (8.84%) and ß-caryophyllene (3.89%). Finally, the essential leaf oil of O. sanctum shows methyl eugenol (56.18%), ß-caryophyllene (16.60%) and germacrene D (5.10%) as main constituents. Therefore, the following chemotypes can be attributed to the analysed Ocimum samples: O. americanum, methyl cinnamate-type; O. basilicum, methyl cinnamate/linalool-type; O. gratissimum, eugenol-type; and O. sanctum, methyl eugenol-type. The character impact compounds of the essential oils of the four investigated Ocimum samples, as well as a discussion of their possible use in food products, is also given.