Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Essential Oil of Arabian Jasmine (Jasminum sambac) Flowers Harvested from Pothohar Region of Pakistan

istillation of Arabian jasmine flowers collected from Pothohar region was analyzed by GC/MS. Concrete oil recovery on fresh petal weight basis was 1.78 g (0.17%) and absolute oil recovery from this concrete was 0.09%. Essential oil recovery in hydro-distillation was 0.08 g (0.008%). The colour of absolute oil was very light brown. The readings for specific gravity, congealing point of concrete and refractive index of essential oil were 0.89, 57°C and 1.37, respectively. Overall 35 compounds were identified. Main components( > 5%) were benzyl benzoate (15.63%), jasmine (9.90%), linalool (8.58%), isophytol (7.56%), geranyl linalool (6.07%), phytol (5.75%) and palmitic acid (5.01%). Other constituents varied from less than 1% to 5%.