Chemical Investigation of Imported Mint, Clove and Olibanum Essential Oils

Abstract

ABSTRACT A Survey of the market in Sudan indicated the growing trend of import of essential oils as crude raw materials or in form of semi- or finished end products and commodities. Quality control and assessment of the imported essential oils need to be established and promoted bearing in mind the research and development in this field. Three imported essential oils namely mint(Mentha viridis L.), clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L) and olibanum (Boswellia papyrifera) were selected to evaluate on bases with regard to the local row materials .The purchased imported oils were subjects to complete analysis of their physical and chemical properties along with the Sudanese oils prepared from plant samples available in the local market. Essential oil content, physicochemical properties and chemical composition of essential oils prepared from the plant materials and purchased oils were determined. The oil content in plant materials were in mint dry leaves (1.5%) with Carvone (70.19%) as the main component, in clove buds(8.8%) with Eugenol 81.8% the main component and in olibanum gum (4.5%) with acetic acid octyl ester (93.99%) the main component.The oil content in purchased oils were in mint (0.01%) and it was not contain Carvone, in clove (0.01%) with Eugenol (24.03%) and olibanum(0.015%) with p-xylene (23.18%) the main component. The composition of essential oils prepared from plant materials and purchased oils were investigated by thin layer chromatography GC-MS. I 2 Physical and chemical properties of essential oils prepared from plant materials were compatible with the literature but physical and chemical properties of purchased oils were not compatible with the literature. The results essential oils prepared from plant materials were compatible and purchased oils were not compatible and indicated that the chemical composition of the three imported oils were different due to adulterated. Crude essential oils available in the local market should be evaluated and assessed according to Pharmacopoeia and international Standards.