Chemical composition of essential oil Tagetes minuta from Iran

Tagetes minuta L. belongs to Asteracea family it is an annual species native of South American, although it has become widespread throughout the world. This species is especially well adapted to disturbed habitats. Tagetes minuta oil found a good market in perfumery and flavour industry. Many studies on Tagetes minuta have reported that the composition of exteracted volatile components varied according to the harvesting location, the growth stage and the part of the plant. From these analyses, it can be deduced that Tagetes oils possess a varied composition according to intrinsic and or extrinsic factors, which reflect different physiological demands associated with growth, reproduction and defence. The purpose of this study was to characterize essential oil composition of Tagetes minuta cultivated in climatic condition of Iran. The experiment was carried out at experimental farm of Tarbiat Modaress University during the spering-summer growing season of 2003. The seed were sown during April. Aerial parts of the plant were collected at full bloom stage at October and dried at room temperature. Essential oil of dried-aerial parts of plant was isolated by hydro-distillation for 3 h using Clevenger type apparatus and was analysis by GC and GC/MS Towenty-two compounds were characterized with ?-terpineol (20.8%), (Z)- ?-ocimene (17.6%), dihydrotagetone (13.7%), (Z)-tagetone (8.3%), (E)-ocimenone (13.2%), (Z)-ocimenone (6%), cis-dihydro carrone (5%), l-terpineol (2.7%), limonene (2.6%), (E)-tagetone (1.9%) as major compounds.