Abstract:
The volatile oil from the dry seeds of Foeniculum vulgare Mill., known in Sudan
as Elshamar, was extracted by hydrodistillation. The volatile oil yield of was
found to be 6 % (v/w). The extracted volatile oil was analyzed by gas
chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to
determine the chemical constituents. The retention indices of the major
components were calculated from the GC analysis. From the GC-MS analysis 28
compounds (11 hydrocarbons and 17 oxygenated compounds) were identified.
The main constituents of volatile oil were found to be: Anethole (I) 31.1%,
phenyl-2-methyl-3-propanal 21.25%, d-limonene 12.13% β-pinene 9.63% γ-
terpinene 8.03% and 2-carenal 8.71% and their retention indices are 1237.04,
1290.74, 1021.11, 976.98, 1060 and 1283.33 respectively.
