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Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Teucrium yemense Deflers

Nasser A. Awadh Ali, Martina Wurster, Norbert Arnold, Ulrike Lindequist and Ludger Wessjohan

1 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Sana’a University, P.O. Box 13150, Yemen

2 Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Department of Bio-organic Chemistry, Weinberg 3, 06120 Halle/Saale, Germany

3 Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmacy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Str. 17, D-17487 Greifswald, Germany

Abstract: The chemical composition of the essential oil (EO) obtained by hydrodistillation from the leaves of Teucrium yemense Deflers was determined by GC-MS. Twelve compounds accounting to 77.7% of the total oil were identified. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (73.9%) were the predominant portion of the oil with δ-cadinene (34.9%), β-caryophyllene (22.7%), a -humulene (6.1%), and a -selinene (5.4%) as the main constituents.

Keywords: Essential oil, Teucrium yemense, δ-cadinene, GC-MS.