Volatile Components of Nigella damascenaL. and Nigella sativaL. Seeds

AbstractThe volatile components in chloroform extracts and essential oils from the seeds of Nigella damascenaand Nigella sativawere analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The volatile compositions differed in the two species: N. damascenacontained sesquiterpenes, including a large proportion of β-elemene (27.7% extract, 54.7% oil) and methyl 3-methoxy-N-methyl anthranilate (30.7% extract, 12.7% oil), which account for the characteristic aroma of this species, whereas only monoterpenes, including p-cymene (49.0% extract, 47.4% oil) and thymoquinone (20.6% extract, 20.8% oil), were detected in N. sativa.