Acta Pharm. 51 (2001) 153-157

Composition of the essential oil of Pelargonium radula (Cav.) L'Herit:
A study of its vegetative cycle

ZDENKA KALOGJERA,^1* NIKOLA BLAZEVIC² and  MIROSLAV VOLENEC³

¹Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
²IREX-AROMA, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
³Croatian Institute for Health Insurance, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

The content and composition of essential oil in fresh leaves of Pelargonium radula (Cav.) L'Herit (Geraniaceae) was investigated. Essential oil was separated by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC-MS during the whole vegetative cycle of the plant. Essential oil largely consists of cyclic monoterpenes with oxygen (65.3-75.0%) and their oxides and esters (11.2-19.0%). The main component of essential oil was geraniol (40.5-50.5%). Other important monoterpenes found include citronellol, i-menthone, citronellyl formate, and geranyl formate. Sesquiterpenic compounds were found in traces, whereas the only phenylpropane compound identified was eugenol.

Keywords: Pelargonium radula (Cav.) L'Herit (Geraniaceae), essential oil, geraniol