Essential oil composition of a new chemotype of basil (ocimum basilicum l.) cultivating in Turkey

The essential oil of leaves of Ocimum basilicum L. collected from Mersin (Büyükeceli-Gülnar) was analysed by GC-MS. The oil yield of dried plant (v/dw) obtained by hydrodistillation was 1.32%. Thirty-six compounds representing, 98.81% of the oil from location were identified. The oil from O.basilicum contained linalyl acetate (55.2%), linalool (17.2%), 1,8–cineole (3.2%), neo-allo-ocimene (3.0%), (E)-β-ocimene (2.1%), elemol (2.9%) and (Z)-β-ocimene (2.0%) as the most abundant constituents. The oil consisted of monoterpenic hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoter-penes and sesquiterpenes. Minor qualitative and major quantitative variations for some compounds of essential oil were determined with respect to O.basilicum oil. © 2004 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.