Abstract
The composition of the volatile oil from the leaves of Italian Thymus capitatus (L.) Hoffmanns. et Link was investigated in detail by a solid-phase microextraction (SPME)–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method. Sixty-two compounds were identified; the major aroma constituents were carvacrol (72.8%), γ-terpinene (6.4%), p-cymene (2.3%), β-caryophyllene (3.1%) and β-linalool (2.1%). The method developed for the volatile constituent analysis allowed the identification of a large number of sesquiterpenes not reported previously in Thymus oil, including α-guryunene, β- and γ-elemene, α-bergamotene, α- and β- himachalene, β-farnesene, α-muurolene, valencene, calamenene, humulene oxide I and II, and α-bisabolol.