Compositional characteristics of the essential oil of Pimpinella anisum and Foeniculum vulgare grown in Serbia

Abstract

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from the mature fruits of Pimpinella anisum and Foeniculum vulgare were analyzed by GC-MS. The oil of aniseed was characterized by higher amounts of trans-anethole (96.80%) than fennel essential oil (83.43%). The isomer of trans-anethole, methyl chavicol (estragol) was also present in both plants, with 1.36% in fennel and 0.19% in aniseed. Apart from these two phenylpropanoids, nine sesquiterpenes and one monoterpene were present in essential oil of Pimpinella anisum, which constituted the other 3.01% of essential oil, but only γ-himachalene was present with more than 1%. In the case of fennel, eight monoterpenes constituted the other 15.21% of essential oil, and limonene and fenchone were present with contributions of 9.34 and 4.58%, respectively. © 2015 Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden Jevremovac, Belgrade.