The essential oil from Tithonia rotundifolia leaf growing wild in Osun State, Nigeria obtained by hydro-distillation has been characterised for the first time by combined GC and GC-MS analyses. Forty-six components representing 93.8% of the total oil have been fully identified. The oil is characterised largely by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (78.1%), represented chiefly by germacrene D (33%) and β-caryophyllene (25.8%). The less important classes of components are monoterpene hydrocarbons (5.1%), oxygenated monoterpenes (0.3%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (3.1%) and non-terpenes (7.2%).
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