FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL

Flavour Fragr. J. 2000; 15: 21±22

Composition of the essential oil of Satureja brownei (SW.)

Briq. from Venezuela
Luis B. Rojas* and Alfredo Usubillaga
Research Institute, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Los Andes, MeÂrida, Venezuela

Received 17 March 1999

Revised 11 August 1999
Accepted 18 August 1999

ABSTRACT: The essential oil of Satureja brownei (SW.) Briq., was studied by GC and GC±MS. A yield of
0.12% of oil (v/w) was obtained. The main constituents found were pulegone (64.3%), menthone (20.2%),
isomenthone (3.4%) and isopulegone (2.4%). Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

KEY WORDS: Satureja brownei (SW.) Briq.; pulegone; Lamiaceae

Introduction was dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate, and stored

Satureja brownei (SW.) Briq. (Lamiaceae)1 is a strongly
aromatic herb which grows wild in moist, shady ®elds
and thickets, and in freshwater marshes or on stream
banks.2 It is found in the Andes above 1200 m from
Venezuela to Argentina, as well as in Central America,
Cuba and Puerto Rico. An infusion of this plant is used
as a remedy for respiratory diseases and cough.3,4 The
present study was undertaken in order to increase
knowledge of the chemical composition of the essential
oil of S. brownei aerial parts for possible use in foods,
beverages, soaps and toiletry products.
Experimental
Plant Material
Aerial parts of S. brownei were collected during the
¯owering stage at La Culata (altitude 3020 m), MeÂrida,
Venezuela. It was identi®ed by Professor Gilberto
Morillo, Faculty of Forestry, University of Los Andes.
A voucher specimen (Luis B. Rojas 05) is deposited at
the MERF herbarium, Faculty of Pharmacy, University
of Los Andes.
Isolation of the Volatile Oil
Aerial parts (800 g) of S. brownei were hydrodistilled
for 4 h in a Clevenger-type apparatus. The oil sample
* Correspondence to: L. B. Rojas, Instituto de Investigaciones, Facultad de
Farmacia, Universidad de Los Andes, MeÂrida, Venezuela. Fax: 58-74-403455;
e-mail: rojasl@ula.ve
Contract grant sponsor: Conicit, Venezuela.
Contract grant number: S1-97000048.
in a dark vial at ‡48C.
Gas Chromatography
A Perkin-Elmer Autosystem gas chromatograph with a
¯ame ionization detector was used for KovaÂts indices
determination.5 The analysis was carried out using an
AT-5 fused silica column (60 m  0.25 mm i.d.; ®lm
thickness 0.25 mm). The temperature of the injection
block was 2508C. The GC oven temperature was
programmed as follows: initial temperature 608C
(1.0 min) rising at 48C/min to 2008C and then at
108C/min to a ®nal temperature of 2808C. The carrier
gas was He at 1.0 ml/min, constant volume.
GC±MS Analysis
These were obtained with a Hewlett-Packard 6890
Series II chromatograph linked to a Hewlett-Packard
5973 mass spectrometer system equipped with an HP
automatic injector and a 30 m HP-5 capillary column
(0.25 mm i.d.; ®lm thickness 0.25 mm). The ionization
energy was 70 eV. A sample of 1.0 ml of a 2% solution
of the oil in n-heptane was injected, with a split ratio of
100:1. Identi®cation of the oil components was
established using a Wiley MS Data Library (6th edn).
The programme and injector temperatures were the
same used for GC analysis.
Results and discussion
Hydrodistillation of the aerial parts of S. brownei
yielded 0.12% (v/w) of oil. GC and GC±MS analysis

Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2000; 15: 21±22
22 L. B. ROJAS AND A. USUBILLAGA

Table 1. Constituents of the essential oil of Satureja brownei (SW.) Briq.

Compound Percentage RI RT Method of identi®cation
1 a-Thujene t 931 4.98 GC±MS, RI
2 a-Pinene 0.7 940 5.14 GC±MS, RI, P
3 Sabinene 0.2 970 6.07 GC±MS, RI
4 b-Pinene 0.5 979 6.17 GC±MS, RI, P
5 3-Octanone 0.9 986 6.37 GC±MS, RI
6 Myrcene 0.2 991 6.49 GC±MS, RI, P
7 3-Octanol 0.2 997 6.59 GC±MS, RI
8 a-Phellandrene 0.1 1010 6.86 GC±MS, RI
9 d-3-Carene 0.1 1017 7.03 GC±MS, RI
10 p-Cymene 0.9 1029 7.42 GC±MS, RI
11 Limonene 1.5 1035 7.54 GC±MS, RI
12 1,8-Cineole 0.1 1040 7.62 GC±MS, RI
13 Linalol 0.3 1103 9.67 GC±MS, RI
14 Menthone 20.2 1168 11.50 GC±MS, RI
15 Isomenthone 3.4 1177 11.77 GC±MS, RI
16 Isopulegone 2.4 1188 12.13 GC±MS, RI
17 a-Terpineol 0.1 1199 12.69 GC±MS, RI
18 Myrtenol t 1206 12.90 GC±MS, RI
19 Verbenone t 1209 13.23 GC±MS, RI
20 trans-Carveol t 1217 13.80 GC±MS, RI
21 Pulegone 64.3 1258 14.49 GC±MS, RI, P
22 Piperitone t 1270 14.64 GC±MS, RI
23 Geranial 0.1 1283 15.21 GC±MS, RI
24 Thymol 0.1 1308 16.20 GC±MS, RI
25 Piperitenone 0.1 1348 17.46 GC±MS, RI
26 a-Gurjunene 0.2 1419 17.54 GC±MS, RI
27 b-Caryophyllene 0.8 1435 19.95 GC±MS, RI
28 a-Humulene 0.2 1466 20.99 GC±MS, RI
29 Germacrene D t 1496 21.83 GC±MS, RI
30 Spathulenol 0.3 1594 24.65 GC±MS, RI
31 Caryophyllene oxide 0.3 1603 24.83 GC±MS, RI

Identi®cation: GC±MS ˆ gas chromatography/mass spectrometry; RI ˆ KovaÂts index in AT-5; P ˆ standard; RT ˆ retention time on a HP-5 (30 m)
column in minutes; t ˆ 5 0.1.

revealed the presence of at least 38 components, 31 of
which, representing 98.2% of the oil, were identi®ed.
The percentage compositions and modes of ident-
i®cation of the oil components are listed in Table 1.
The oil from the leaves of S. brownei from Cuba has
been recently studied,6 the major components reported
being pulegone (54.6%) and menthone (32.9%). How-
ever, it was reported previously that the oil from
S. brownei grown in Colombia7 contained 80.0% of
pulegone. The Venezuelan oil is closer to the Cuban oil
in pulegone and menthone content, in comparison with
the columbian oil. S. brownei grows in Colombia and
Venezuela in the Andes mountains, while the Cuban
plants were collected at Guiria de Melena, on the coastal
plain of the island. It is not possible to attribute the
di€erences in composition to climatic conditions, since
these are very similar in the Andes of Columbia and
Venezuela. It is possible that S. brownei has evolved
di€erent phenotypes in the Caribbean and in the Andes.
To investigate this assertion, it would be necessary to
analyse plants from di€erent locations in Cuba and
Colombia. The values presented in Table 1 represent the
analysis of plants collected at La Culata (3020 m
altitude) but plants were also collected at 2900 m and
1600 m around MeÂrida, and no signi®cant di€erences in
composition were observed.
Acknowledgements Ð The authors gratefully acknowledge the ®nan-
cial support of Conicit (Grant S1-97000048).
References
1. C. Epling, Miss. Bot. Garden, 14, 47±86 (1927).
2. D. Velazquez, Acta Bot. Venez., 20, 1 (1997).
3. A. JaÂten-Lasser, M. S. Ricardi and G. Adamo, Phytother. Res., 12,
S53 (1998).
4. S. LoÂpez-Palacios, Usos MeÂdicos de Plantas Comunes, ULA,
Talleres Gra®cos, MeÂrida, Venezuela (1987).
5. R. P. Adams, Identi®cation of Essential Oils by Ion Trap Mass
Spectroscopy, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, 302pp. (1989).
6. J. A. Pino, M. Estarron and V. Fuentes, J. Essent. Oil Res., 9, 595
(1997).
7. C. F. Zuluaga, C. E. Mier and Q. V. Valle, Not. Quim., 7, 40±41
(1981).

Copyright # 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Flavour Fragr. J. 2000; 15: 21±22