Chemical composition of the essential oils of Salvia officinalis, S. fruticosa, Melissa officinalis, and their infusions

Dried leaves of commercially available Salvia officinalis, Salvia fruticosa, and Melissa officinalis were divided into two parts; the first part was subjected to hydrodistillation and the second part was used for the preparation of the infusions. The essential oil and the infusion of each sample were subjected to analysis by means of GC-FID and GC-MS. The oxygenated monoterpenes 1,8-cineole (27.5%) and camphor (11.5%) appeared as the most important metabolites in Salvia officinalis, α- and β-thujone (16.5%, 16.4%), followed by 1,8-cineole (8.8%) were characterizing the essential oil of Salvia fruticosa, whereas in the oil of Melissa officinalis the sesquiterpene caryophyllene oxide (14.9%) was the most abundant constituent, followed by geranial (12.2%), neral (11.2%) and citronellal (6.7%). The infusions were characterized by the higher levels of the most important compounds found in the essential oil of the respective sample, as in the case of S. officinalis (1,8-cineol 53.6%, camphor 25.8%) and S. fruticosa (α- thujone 61.2%, β-thujone 24.3%, 1,8-cineole 14.5%), while the infusion of M. officinalis was dominated by palmitic and stearic acid (25.5%, 19.5%).