Chemical Composition of Essential Oil of Camphor Tree (Cinnamomum camphora) Leaves Grown in Doon Valley of Uttarakhand

The camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora Linn. J. Presl) belongs to the family Lauraceae collected from Doon Valley, Garhwal region of Uttarakhand was studied. Essential oil (EO) from the leaves of C. camphora was isolated (yield 1.57%, w/w) using the hydro-distillation method and analyzed for its chemical composition by capillary GC and GC/MS. The EO showed the presence of 23 compounds representing 95.19% area of total chromatogram. EO was dominated by monoterpenes amounting to 88.06% represented by 11 hydrocarbons (36.79%) and 04 oxygenated derivatives (51.27%) with D-camphor (46.06%), limonene (9.74%), α-pinene (9.71%), β-myrcene (4.91%) and camphene (4.37%) as major constituents. Therefore, the characteristic odor and chemical composition of camphor rich C. camphora essential oil can become a significant source of natural fragrances in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.