Essential Oil of the Wood of Araucaria cunninghamii Aiton ex D. Don

Abstract

Simultaneous distillation and solvent extraction of the sapwood of the Australian softwood Araucaria cunninghamii Aiton ex D. Don (common name “hoop pine”) gave a minute amount of an oil (3 ppm on wood oven-dry weight), the major components of which were hexanal (11.5%), αcopaene (31.1%), and β-farnesene (11.3%). The heartwood oil (20 ppm on wood oven-dry weight) contained hexanal (9.5%), decadienal isomers (37.0%) and propionic, butyric, valeric and octanoic acids (10.3% total).

Key Word Index:

• Araucaria cunninghamii
• Araucariaceae
• hoop pine
• essential oil composition
• hexanal
• decadienal
• αcopaene
• alkanoic acids