Composition of Tanacetum annuum L. Oil from Morocco

Abstract

Fresh aerial parts of Tanacetum annuum L. from Morocco were steam distilled to produce an oil in 0.5% yield. The oil was fractionated on the silica gel column and analyzed by GC and GC/MS using MS and retention index data and more than 130 constituents were identified. The major components of the oil were chamazulene (38–17%), myrcene (14–1%), sabinene (8.6–4%), β-eudesmol (7–3%) and camphor (18–4%). Seasonal variation of the oil composition suggested that the chamazulene content decreases and the myrcene content increases from June to October.

Key Word Index:

• Tanacetum annuum
• Compositae
• Moroccan Tansy
• myrcene
• camphor
• chamazulene
• seasonal variation