Characteristics of fatty acids and essential oil from sweet fennel ( Foeniculum vulgare Mill. var. dulce) and bitter fennel fruits (F. vulgare Mill. var. vulgare) growing in Turkey

• Published in: Natural product research Vol. 22; no. 12; pp. 1011 - 1016
• Main Authors: Coşge, Belgin, Kiralan, Mustafa, Gürbüz, Bilal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2008
• Subjects: Fatty Acids - chemistry; fenchone; fennel; Foeniculum - chemistry; Foeniculum vulgare; Foeniculum vulgare Mill; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; Oils, Volatile - chemistry; petrocelinic acid; trans-Anethole; Turkey; Turkey
• ISSN: 1478-6419; 1478-6427
• DOI: 10.1080/14786410801980675

Oil content in sweet and bitter fennels was obtained 12.22% and 14.41%, respectively. The C 18:1 c6 , C 18:2 , C 18:1 c9 and C 16:0 acids corresponding to ∼97% of total oil was recorded as principal fatty acids. The ratios of essential oil from sweet and bitter fennels were found similar (average 3.00%). trans-Anethole, estragole and fenchone were found to be the main constituents in both fennels. The compound with the highest value in the two oil samples was trans-anethole as 95.25% (sweet) and 75.13% (bitter). While estragole was found in bitter fennel oil in a remarkable amount (15.51%), sweet fennel oil contained small amounts of estragole (2.87%). Fenchone was found <1% in sweet and ∼5% in bitter fennel. p-Anisaldehyde in bitter fennel essential oil, and α-pinene and γ-terpinene in sweet fennel essential oil were not recorded, and these compounds were found very low or <1%.