ABSTRACT
The present work was carried out to study the chemical composition of parsley herb [90- 100 day-old] produced in Egypt. The chemical composition and the physicochemical properties of volatile oil obtained by steam distillation of parsley were also studied. In addition, the effect of storage conditions of parsley herb volatile oil [PHVO] on its quality attributes was investigated. Twenty-two compounds were identified in this oil by using Gas liquid chromatography [GLC] and Gas liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry [GLC-MS]. The major constituents were beta-myrcene [23.75%], beta-phellandrene [19.47%] and myristicin [8.79%]. Moreover, three compounds were first identified in the parsley herb volatile oil, i.e. 5-undecen-3-yne [0.06%], cyclohexene, 1-methyl-4-[5-methy-l-methylene-4-hexehyl] [0.21%] and 2- pyridinamine, 4-methyl [0.40%]. The results revealed that the lowest changes in quality attributes of oil occurred in oil samples stored in filled up dark glass bottles or aluminum bottles kept at freezing temperature [-5°]