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Leaf essential oil of Laurus nobilis L. from different localities of Croatia

Bay laurel, sweet laurel, Laurus nobilis L., an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Mediterranean region and Asia Minor, has been admired for its beauty and aromatic leaves since ancient times. Currently, the plant is both cultivated and collected from the wild. Dried leaves are used to flavour meats, fish, vegetables, and soups and also as an ingredient in pickling spice. The essential oil, distilled from the leaves, with bactericidal and fungicidal properties (Schnaubelt, 1998) is used in perfumery and for flavouring food products (Duke, 1987). This is the first report on the Croatian bay leaf essential oil. The leaves were harvested at three different localities in October 2001 (Table 1.). The dried leaves were crushed to powder and the oil was isolated by hydrodistillation, for 3 hours, in a modified Clevenger-type apparatus. The oil yield varied from 0.87 - 1.53 % (mass/dry weight). The isolated oils were analysed by GC-MS using two columns with different stationary phase polarity (HP-20M and HP-101). The most abundant oil compounds are listed: 1, 8-Cineole (30.9-33.6%), sabinene (8.7-10.7%), alpha-terpinyl acetate (8.6-10.2%), linalool (4.7-8.8%), methyl eugenol (4.8-8.8%), eugenol (2.8-3.9%), alpha-terpineol (3.5-4.6%), terpinene-4-ol (2.7-4.6%), alpha-pinene (3.3-4.7%)and beta-caryophyllene (0.7-2.2%).Our results are comparable with those reported for Portugal (Roque, 1989), Turkey (Lawrence, 1990) and Italy (Caredda et al., 2002) bay oils.

Laurus nobilis L.; essential oil; GC-MS

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