Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil of Cuminum cyminum L. Seeds from Western India

The essential oil from the seeds of Cuminum cyminum L. was isolated by hydrodistillation method and the chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The yield of the oil was found to be 3.0% (on dry weight basis). A total of twenty six components, representing 96.7% of the oil were identified. Cuminaldehyde (49.4%), p-cymene (17.4%), β-pinene (6.3%), α-terpinen-7-al (6.8%), γ- terpinene (6.1%), p-cymen-7-ol (4.6%) and thymol (2.8%) were the major components in the oil.