Study of quantitative and qualitative variations in essential oils of SicilianRosmarinus officinalisL.

Teresa Tuttolomondoa*, Giacomo Dugob, Giuseppe Rubertoc, Claudio Letoa, Edoardo M. Napolic, Nicola Cicerob, Teresa Gervasib, Giuseppe Virgaa, Raffaele Leonea, Mario Licataa & Salvatore La Bellaaa Dip. di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali, Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze 13, 90128 Palermo, Italyb Dip. di Scienze dell'Ambiente, della Sicurezza, del Territorio, degli Alimenti e della Salute (S.A.S.T.A.S.), Università di Messina, Viale Ferdinando Stagno d'Alcontres, 31, 98166 Messina, Italyc Istituto del C.N.R. di Chimica Biomolecolare, Via Paolo Gaifami 18, I-95126 Catania, Italy*Corresponding author. Email: teresa.tuttolomondo@unipa.itIn this study the chemical characterisation of 10 Sicilian Rosmarinus officinalis L. biotypes essential oils is reported. The main goal of this work was to analyse the relationship between the essential oils yield and the geographical distribution of the species plants. The essential oils were analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis statistical methods were used to cluster biotypes according to the essential oils chemical composition. The essential oil yield ranged from 0.8 to 2.3 (v/w). In total 82 compounds have been identified, these represent 96.7–99.9% of the essential oil. The most represented compounds in the essential oils were 1.8-cineole, linalool, α-terpineol, verbenone, α-pinene, limonene, bornyl acetate and terpinolene. The results show that the essential oil yield of the 10 biotypes is affected by the environmental characteristics of the sampling sites while the chemical composition is linked to the genetic characteristics of different biotypes.