Chemical Fingerprinting of the Fragrance Volatiles of Nineteen Indian Cultivars of Cymbopogon Spreng. (Poaceae

The essential oil compositions of total nineteen cultivars of Cymbopogon Spreng. (Poaceae) species viz. C. martinii (Roxb.) Wats. var. motia Burk., C. flexuosus Nees ex Steud, C. winterinus Jowitt., C. pendulus Nees ex Steud. and a hybrid of C. khasianus (Hack) Stapf. ex Bor and C. pendulus Nees ex Steud. were examined and compared using capillary GC and GC-MS . The analysis led to the identification of 48 constituents forming 90.1% to 99.7% of their total oil compositions with monoterpenoids (78.9% to 97.4%) as the most exclusive constituents. The comparative results showed considerable variation in the qualitative and quantitative compositions of essential oils from nineteen different cultivars of the studied Cymbopogon species. On the basis of chemical similarity the cultivars of genus Cymbopogon was divided into five chemical variants/groups within two series viz. Citrati and Rusae. The volatile profile of existing cultivars of Cymbopogon are useful for their commercial utilization as they possess range of essential oils and aroma chemicals used in perfumery, flavour, pharmaceutical and other allied industries. Moreover, the marker constituents in their essential oils may be utilized as an important tool in oil authentication.