The essential oils of the aerial parts of Satureja spicigera (C. Koch) Boiss. and S. macrantha C. A. Mey., from Iran, have been analysed by GC and GC-MS. Forty-three compounds in the oil of S. spicigera, representing 97.4% of the total oil, and 48 compounds in the oil of S. macrantha, representing 92.1%, were identified. The oil of S. spicigera was rich in monoterpenes (89.9%) with thymol (37.3%) as the major compound, but the oil of S. Aerial parts of the plants were dried at room temperature, cut into small pieces and hydrodistilled using a Clevenger-type apparatus for 4 h. The oils were dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate and stored at 4-6°C.
Identification and Quantification of the Oil ComponentsFID-GC was carried out using a Varian GC 3600 chromatograph with DB-5 (methyl phenyl siloxane, 30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 µm film thickness) or DB-1 (60 m × 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 µm film thickness); carrier gas, He; split ratio, 1:15, and flame ionization detector. Temperature programme, 60°C for 2 min, rising at 5°C/min to 240°C; injector temperature, 250°C; detector temperature, 260°C.GC-MS was performed on a cross-linked 5% methyl phenyl siloxane (HP-5, 30 m × 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 µm film thickness) or DB-1 (see GC): carrier gas, He; split ratio, 1:15; quadruple mass spectrometer (Hewlett-Packard 5973) operating at 70 eV ionization energy. The retention indices for all the components