Zafar Iqbal*, Mubeen Akhtar, Muhammad Usman Sabri, Ayesha Altaf
The essential oil from the dried leaves of Ocimum Sanctum was extracted by hydro distillation and after drying with sodium sulfate anhydrous it was analyzed by GC-MS. The oil was found to be a mixture of hydrocarbons (26.463%), alcohols (19.326%) and oxides (3.252%). Among the hydrocarbons caryophyllene (22.265%) was found to be a major component followed by α-caryophyllene (2.071%), α-pinene (0.125%), camphene (0.121%), α-cubebene (0.123%), copaene (1.637%) and α-bourboene (0.244%). Among the alcohols eugenol (15.906%) was found in large quantity followed by Borneol (0.468%) and Methyl iso-eugenol (2.952%). Caryophyllene oxide (3.252%) was also found in appreciable amount.