The chemical composition of the essential oil of (Thymus Serpyllum L.) from Kopaonik mountain

The purpose of this study was to examine the chemical composition of the es­sential oil of Thymus serpyllum L. collected on the slopes of Kopaonik and to compare it with the results of the analysis of essential oils of the species which originate from other parts of Europe. The isolation of the essential oil was carried out through the process of hydrodistillation in the Clevenger type apparatus while the chromatographic analysis of the essential oil was carried out by using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). 26 constituents representing 98.4 % of the detected components were identified out of 27 registered constituents. Sesquiterpenes are a dominant class of the compounds in tested essential oils with trans-caryophyllene as the principal component. The content of identified monoterpenes was 37, 9 % (α-pinene as the main component), sesquiterpenes 60,5 % (trans-caryophyllene, γ-muurolene and α-humulene as the major constituents). Apart from dominant constituents, trans-caryophyllene, γ-muurolene and α-humulene, camphor (3.6 %), limonene (2.7 %) and β-bisabolol (2.6 %) were also found in larger quantities.