The chemical composition of essential oil from Turkish oregano growing in southeastern Turkey was studied by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. More than 70 constituents, of which 57 were identified, were detected. Oregano essential oil from this Turkish region was characterized by a high content of phenolic compounds including thymol and carvacrol (75.72% total) belonging to the menthane biosynthetic type. In addition, essential oil contained linalool (4.42%), p-cymene (3.36%), borneol (2.35%), 4-terpineol (1.74%), a-bisabolene (1.24%), anethole (1.12%), caryophyllene oxide (1.10%), b-caryophyllene (0.68%), b-terpineol (0.55%), spathulenol (0.55%), carvone (0.51%), t-terpinene (0.44%), o-acetylthymol (0.43%), etc. Taking into account the high contents of these compounds in essential oil, Turkish oregano could be recommended for further study as a promising aromatic plant for non-black-earth zones of the RF.Essential oils (EOs) that are used as antifungal, antibacterial, and immunostimulating drugs are currently of great interest in Russia. The uncontrolled use of antibacterial chemotherapeutics led to the spread of resistant microorganism strains. It was also noted in clinical practice that such drugs are often the cause of allergic and immunological diseases. Biologically active compounds (BACs) of plant origin, in particular EOs, lack such drawbacks. This fact was explained by the variable chemical compositions of EOs. The fraction of each constituent changes over rather broad limits even for plants belonging to the same species and depends on the habitat, vegetation stage, collection time, raw-material storage times and conditions, and processing technology. The risk of developing resistant pathogenic microorganisms decreases significantly owing to the broad variability of the EO composition. This allows several basic problems related to the selection of effective therapeutic agents to be resolved [1]. However, the variable EO constituent composition is a serious hindrance to standardization, for which only physicochemical parameters become insufficient. Therefore, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recommends that modern methodical methods for recording the chromatographic profile be used for quality control [2]. This method of fingerprints allows the studied sample to be clearly characterized and the product quality to be subsequently evaluated [3]. Specifications for EOs are contained in the European Pharmacopoeia (7 th Ed.), the British Pharmacopoeia (BP), and the USA pharmacopeia (USP) [4 -6]. EOs corresponding to pharmacopoeial standards should contain a constant amount of principal BAC to ensure stable therapeutic activity.Chromatographic analysis is the most promising and informative method for studying EOs. Gas chromatography (GC), being an effective separation method, makes it possible to study terpenoids of EOs in the minimum amount of time, with highly accurate identification of compounds in multicomponent mixtures, and with an insignificant analyzed sample volume [7]. The...
