Essential Oil Composition of Elettaria cardamomum Maton

Abstract

Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) is one of the most commonly used spices and is known as “the queen of spices”. Cardamom of the Zingiberaceae family is one of the world’s very ancient and expensive spices. The aromatic seeds of Elettaria cardamomum Maton are used in treatment of various diseases; from asthma to cardiac disorders besides using spices. Hydrodistilled essential oil of Cardamom which obtained using a Clevenger-type apparatus, were analysed by GC and GC-MS. Relative percentage amounts of the separated compounds were calculated from FID chromatograms. n-Alkanes were used as reference points in the calculation of relative retention indices (RRI). Sixty seven compounds were identified, representing 96.9% of the oil. The major components were found to be 1,8-cineole (25.6%), linalool (6.3%), αterpinyl acetate (40.7%)