Manathunga MMAM, Liyanage T and Navaratne SB

Cinnamon is a small evergreen tropical tree that is originated in Sri Lanka that produces commercial important spice known as Cinnamomum zeylanicum scientifically. The cinnamon oil is a yellow color liquid when freshly distilled, gradually becoming reddish- brown with age and its odour is that of cinnamon. The grounded cinnamon bark samples were taken from different areas in Sri Lanka and a sample from Seychelles were subjected to investigate the volatile oil content and phytochemical composition competitively. The determination of volatile oil content in a spice is made by distilling the spice with water, collecting the distillate and measuring the volume of the oil using distillation unit. The volatile oil contents of the cinnamon samples were range between 1.3100+0.0036% and 1.4280+0.0165 (v/w) and about 85 chemical compounds were investigated through GCMS in the essential oil. Cinnamaldehyde which is the major compound ranges from 66.295% to 75.946% (w/w). According to the analysis the volatile oil content and chemical composition of the samples have been varied defending on the area and the country.

Pages: 377-380  |  480 Views  228 Downloads