Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Aerial Parts of Thymus ciliatus (Desf.)

The essential oil of the aerial parts of Thymus ciliatus (Desf.) belonging to the Lamiaceae family, was obtained by steam distillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. 75 components were identified corresponding to 95.57% of the total oil. The major constituents of the oil were: elemol (6.80%), carvacrol (5.86%), γ-muurolene (5.18%), β-sesquiphellandrene (5.09%), bicyclogermacrene (5.04%), β-pinene (4.49%) and curcumene (4.20%), together with other compounds at relatively low levels: 1,8-cineol (3.66%), β-eudesmol (2.92%), β-bisabolene (2.81%), β-silinene (2.75%), camphor (2.64%), germacrone (2.34%), α-zingiberene (2.12%), δ-cadinene (2.08%), caryophyllene oxide (1.90%), spathulenol (1.88%), □-caryophyllene (1.88%), ar-turmerone (1.79%), α-pinene (1.52%), limonene (1.52%), selina-4,11-diene (1.46%), curzerenone (1.41%), germacrone B (1.37%), bornyl acetate (1.31%), β-farnesene (1.28%), borneol (1.23%), myrtenal (1.16%), zingiberenol (1.15%) and sabinene (1.13%). These results differ from those of previous studies reported on this species collected from other regions of Algeria and Morocco.