EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS OF VOLATILE OIL OF FOENICULUM VULGARE MILL

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.