VOLATILE CONSTITUENTS OF LEAVES AND FLOWERS OF THYMUS MASTICHINA BY HEADSPACE SOLID-PHASE MICROEXTRACTION

In the present work, the volatile compounds of leaves and flowers of Thymus mastichina collected in two different places of Portugal were studied using the head space solid-phase micro-extraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) procedure. The analysis fell upon dried leaves and flowers directly or by the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation. The results showed that linalool (26 -30 %) was the most important compound in leaves and flowers of plants from Sesimbra. In Algarve plants, 1,8-cineol or eucalyptol was the most significant volatile compound of which concentrations ranged from (23 – 33 %). In general these results are in accordance with what already has been studied by hydrodistillation and GC-MS.