Resumen
The volatile constituents of the essential oil and absolute of Nyctanthes arbortristis L. flowers grown in Sri Lanka were investigated. Hydro-distillation and solvent extraction were used to obtain the essential oil and the absolute respectively. The volatile samples were analyzed by capillary GC-FID and GC-MS techniques. This study led to the identification of 48 chemical constituents of the essential oil and 4 in the absolute. The essential oil composition was dominated by phytol (32.2 %) and methyl palmitate (14.7 %). Other well-known volatile constituents such as linalool (0.8 %), eucarvone (0.9 %), phytone (1.4 %), nonadecane (2.3 %), methyl myristate (1.1 %), cis-9-tricosene (3.6 %), n-pentacosane (1.6 %) and geranylgeraniol (2.7 %) were also identified in the essential oil. The absolute was dominated by butyl acetate (80.8 %) followed by phenethyl acetate (1.7 %), linalool oxide (1.4 %) and 2-butoxyethyl acetate (1.4 %).