title: Essential oil composition of Pimpinella anisum L. fruits from various European countries.
abstract: Variations in the essential oil composition of Pimpinella anisum L. fruits obtained from different geographical areas of Europe were determined using capillary GC and GC-MS techniques. The essential oil content of the samples was 10.0-53.6 mL kg(-1) and did not confirm to the European Pharmacopoeia standard in 5 samples out of 14. A total of 21 compounds were identified and significant quantitative differences were observed among the samples. The major component was trans-anethole (76.9-93.7%); the other principal compounds in oils were gamma-himachalene (0.4-8.2%), trans-pseudoisoeugenyl 2-methylbutyrate (0.4-6.4%), p-anisaldehyde (tr-5.4%) and methylchavicol (0.5-2.3%). The highest content of trans-anethole (>90%) was found in the samples from Greece, Hungary, Scotland, Lithuania, Italy, and Germany (2 samples). Essential oil of aniseed from Estonia was rich in gamma-himachalene (8.2%) and trans-pseudoisoeugenyl 2-methylbutyrate (6.4%). The sample from France contained the highest amount of anisaldehyde (5.4%) comparing with other samples (0-3.1%). beta-Bourbonene and alpha-farnesene are determined in anise oil for the first time.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Chemistry, Tallinn University of Technology, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orav
authors.forename: Ain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raal
authors.forename: Elmar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Arak
mesh_terms: D003710:Demography; D005060:Europe; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D028042:Pimpinella / Q000737:chemistry*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010938:Plant Oils