chemical composition of the essential oil from the aerial parts of satureja hortensis as a potent medical plant using traditional hydrodistillation

the water-distilled essential oils, which were obtained from the fresh aerial parts of satureja hortensis were analyzed by means of gc and cc/ms instruments. the plant was collected during the flowering stage from foroomad mountains, semnan province, and heart of iran. twenty compounds were identified in the different samples analyzed, representing 100% of the total oil contents. in terms of general categories, monoterpene hydrocarbons dominated the chemical profile of the oils with γ-terpinene (27.4%), carvacrol (23.7%), p -cymene (11.1%), α-terpinene (10.2%), α-pinene (5.1%) and myrcene (5.1%) as the main constituent components. the other constituents were found to be α-thujene (3.9%), β-pinene (3.0%), sylvestrene (3.0%), α-phellandrene (1.2%) and (-)-terpinen-4-ol (1.0%).