Investigation on chemical constituents of essential oils from Achillea mellifolium L. subsp. mellifolium by distillation methods

The compostion of the oils from flower and leaf of Achillea mellifolium L. subsp. mellifolium were collected during the flowering priod from Lar area to Damavand montain, altitude 3400 m in July 2003. The essential oils obtained by different methods of distillation (steam distillation and hydro-distillation), the percentage of oils for flower and leaf by steam distillation were 0.2 and 0.05% and by hydro-distillation were 0.4 and 0.04% respectively, based on the dry weight calculation. Analysis by GC and GC/MS showed that the major constituents by hydro-distillation in flower were p-cymene (19.8%), n-heptanol (15.2%) and bornyl acetate (12%) in leaf p-cymene (24.1%), n-heptanol (11.1%) and camphor (5.9%) and by steam distillation in flower were (E)-isoeugenyl acetate (18%), n-heptanol (16.3%), bornyl acetate (16.2%) and p-cymene (9.3%) in leaf (Z)- isodemicin (16%), (E)-isoeugenyl acetate (14.9%), nootkatin (13%) and longifolene (11.8%), respectively.