ABSTRACT
The volatile chemicals in the leaves of six Garcinia species viz; G. assamica, G. dulcis, G. lanceifolia, G. morella var. mucrona, G. pedunculata and G. xanthochymus, collected from North East India, were studied for the first time. The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS, and 64 volatile components were identified. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons predominated in all the species, and the major compounds were (E)-caryophyllene, α-copaene and ß-selinene. The characteristic compound α-copaene was distinguished from its isomer α-ylangene through 13C NMR analysis. Hierarchical cluster analysis based on the volatile chemical compositions revealed that G. dulcis and G. xanthochymus are very close to each other. The compositions of North East Garcinia species were compared with that of the Western Ghats species.
