Naser Askari

Essential oil compositions of the leaves of Azadirachta indica growing in the tropical areas in the south of Iran was obtained by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC-MS. The oil yield of air dried leaves was 0.1 % (w/w). Total of 16 components represented 96.2 % of the total oil were identified. The major components of the oil were: γ-elemene (20.8 %), germacrene-B (20.3%), trans-caryophyllene (13.5 %), hexadecanal (12.8 %), and methyl linoleat (10.5 %). The classification of indentified compounds showed that the sesquieterpene hydrocarbons (69.0 %) constituted the major fraction of the oil, followed by oxygenated sesquiterpens (1.4 %). However, other compounds comprised 25.9 % of the total constituents.