Comparative Chemical Composition Analysis of Essential Oils in Different Populations of Damask Rose from Iran

Damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.), belonging to the Rosaceae family, is a unique species. One of the major and popular growing regions of Damask rose is Kashan and its rose essential oil has unique scent and global reputation. The aim of this study was to compare the variation that naturally exists in quantity and quality of essential oils in different populations and selection of the best population. Unfortunately, there is inadequate information about flower oil yield of different populations of R. damascena from different regions of Kashan. Therefore, flowers of R. damascena Mill. were collected from fifteen important rose oil production regions of Kashan, Iran. The chemical composition of essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. As a result, based on the dendrogram obtained from cluster analysis of chemical component data, fifteen R. damascena populations were grouped into three clusters. A total of fifty-five compounds were identified and quantified by GC–MS analysis in the rose oil. The essential oil contents (w/w) were ranged from 0.0020% to 0.0190% after isolation in Clevenger apparatus. The major components of the oil contained limonene (0.4–12.8%), 2-phenylethyl alcohol (1.0–1.3%), citronellol (16.2– 57.8%), geraniol (0.9–14.1%), methyleugenol (0.5–2.5%), heptadecane (0.8–3.0%), 1- nonadecene (2.1–7.5%), nonadec-9-ene (14.9–30.2%), eicosane (1.0–3.3%), heneicosane (5.8–18.6%), tricosane (0.9–5.2%), and pentacosane (0.3–2.1%). The essential oil of Josheghan was considered to have a high quality in terms of richness in citronellol, geraniol, and 2-phenylethyl alcohol monoterpenes and has good potentials as antioxidant and strong fragrance in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry.