Abstract
The leaf essential oil composition of Taxodium distichum L., collected from the foothills of Uttarakhand, India was analyzed using gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) equipped with DB-5 (5% diphenyl-95% dimethyl polysiloxane) and β-cyclodextrin (6-tertiarybutyldimethylsiliyl-2,3-diethyl-β-cyclodextrin) capillary columns. Seventeen constituents, representing 90.3 to 99.4% of composition were identified in the essential oils from different seasons, viz. spring, summer, rainy, autumn and winter. The essential oil composition was mainly dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons, represented mainly by α-pinene (81.9–94.3%). Other constituents of the oil were myrcene (0.5–4.7%), β-pinene (2.2–2.9%), limonene (0.5–1.5%), camphene (≤0.03–1.5%), and α-terpineol (upto 1.6%). Chiral analysis of T. dstichum essential oil on an ethyl substituted β-cyclodextrin capillary column revealed the presence of α-pinene in racemic form, with an enantiomeric ratio of 49.3% for (1R)-(+)- and 50.7% for (1S)-(-)-α-pinene.