Evaluation of Essential Oil Composition of Fruit Peels from CitrusReticulata

Citrus essential oils have long been utilized in various applications such as food, beverages,cosmetics, and medicines, owing to their pleasant fragrance and numerous beneficialproperties. These essential oils contain active constituents, including limonene, α-pinene, β-pinene, and α-terpinolene, which exhibit antimicrobial, germicidal, antioxidant, and evenanticarcinogenic properties. This study investigates the yield, compositions, and identities ofessential oil (EO) extracted from peel of Citrus reticulata (also known as mandarin) cultivatedin Iran. The EO were extracted by hydrodistillation method from fresh mandarin peel. TheEO yield was ۰.۵%. Twenty-eight components were identified by gas chromatography-massspectrometry in essential oil sample, mostly hydrogenated monoterpenes and oxygenatedmonoterpenes. The main components were limonene (۵۶.۷۸%), γ-terpinene (۱۰.۷۳%), α-terpineol (۳.۸۳%) and α-pinene (۲.۵۷%).

Keywords:

essential oil , Citrus reticulata , limonene