GC Analyses of Salvia Seeds as Valuable Essential Oil Source
The essential oils of seeds of Salvia verbenaca, Salvia officinalis, and Salvia sclarea were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry. The oil yields (w/w) were 0.050, 0.047, and 0.045% in S. verbenaca, S. sclarea, and S. officinalis, respectively. Seventy-five compounds were identified. The essential oil composition of S. verbenaca seeds showed that over 57% of the detected compounds were oxygenated monoterpenes followed by sesquiterpenes (24.04%) and labdane type diterpenes (5.61%). The main essential oil constituents were camphor (38.94%), caryophyllene oxide (7.28%), and 13-epi-manool (5.61%), while those of essential oil of S. officinalis were α-thujone (14.77%), camphor (13.08%), and 1,8-cineole (6.66%). In samples of S. sclarea, essential oil consists mainly of linalool (24.25%), α-thujene (7.48%), linalyl acetate (6.90%), germacrene-D (5.88%), bicyclogermacrene (4.29%), and α-copaene (4.08%). This variability leads to a large range of naturally occurring volatile compounds with valuable industrial and pharmaceutical outlets.