Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil from Marrubium persicum C. A. Mey. (Lamiaceae)

Background: The essential oil of Maruubium persicum C. A. Mey (Lamiaceae) was obtained by hydrodistillation from aerial parts of the plant during flowering stage. Methods: The chemical analyses of the essential oil by GC/MS and GC/FID, allowed us to identify thirty three compounds, representing 94.4% of the total oil. Results: The essential oil of M. persicum was typically a complex mixture of mainly oxygenated non-terpenoids (51.5%), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (27.9%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (4.8%), monoterpene hydrocarbons (9%), and oxygenated monoterpenes (1.3%). The major components of the essential oil were m-tolualdehyde (19.2%) followed by acetophenone (14.6%), germacrene D (10.5%), B-caryophyllene (7.4%), B-farnesene (6.2%), and ?-pinene (4.6%). Conclusion: In spite of the fact that Marrubium sp. contain quite lower amounts of aliphatic and non-terpenoid fractions, M. persicum revealed rather higher proportions of non-terpenoid compounds, namely acetophenone with different isomers of tolualdehyde which are considered to be reported for the first time in the genus Marrubium.