Essential oil constituents of Melia dubia, a wild relative of Azadirachta indica growing in the Eastern Ghats of Peninsular India

The leaf essential oil of Melia dubia Cav. (Meliaceae) has been studied by CC-MS. The leaf essential oil consists chiefly of monoterpenes (35.71%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (27.98%), accompanied by a relatively much smaller amount of alkanes (11.17%), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (9.26%) and phenylp ropanoids (3.90%). The monoterpene camphene occurs as a major constituent ( 21.68%) of this leaf essential oil. It is accompanied by a noticeable amoun t of alpha- and beta -pinene (3.12% and 5.13%, respectively) and a much sma ller amount of sabinene (2.75%). The oxygenated monoterpenes are distinctly dominated by the presence of the bicyclic ketone camphor (17.85%), while i so-borneol and borneol are detected in much smaller amounts (4.15% and 1.12 %, respectively). Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.