Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil from the Aerial Parts of Satureja hortensis As a Potent Medical Plant Using Traditional Hydrodistillation

The water-distilled essential oils, which were obtained from the fresh aerial parts of Satureja hortensis were analyzed by means of GC and CC/MS instruments. The plant was collected during the flowering stage from Foroomad Mountains, Semnan Province, and heart of Iran. Twenty compounds were identified in the different samples analyzed, representing 100% of the total oil contents. In terms of general categories, monoterpene hydrocarbons dominated the chemical profile of the oils with ?-terpinene (27.4%), carvacrol (23.7%), p-cymene (11.1%), ?-terpinene (10.2%), ?-pinene (5.1%) and myrcene (5.1%) as the main constituent components. The other constituents were found to be ?-thujene (3.9%), B-pinene (3.0%), sylvestrene (3.0%), ?-phellandrene (1.2%) and (-)-terpinen-4-ol (1.0%).