ARS | Publication request: THE COMPOSITION OF DALEA FORMOSA OIL DETERMINED BY STEAM DISTILLATION AND BY SOLID-PHASE MICROEXTRACTION

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 8, 2002
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Dalea formosa Torr. (feather dalea, featherplume) was collected from the Jornada Experimental Range in south central New Mexico. Current year's growth was collected from 10 plants, all found within an approximate 50 m radius of the GPS coordinates N 32 deg 40.645' and W 106 deg 33.601' during July 2001. Composite samples of the plants were steam distilled in triplicate and the essential oil was analyzed using both GC-FID and GC/MS. To explore the possibility of using solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in place of steam distillation, compositions of plants collected from the same site were also examined using SPME. Mass spectra and retention indices were used to identify 58 previously described compounds. The retention index and EI mass spectra are provided for one unknown. Alpha-pinene (31.7%), camphene (8.4%), and limonene (8.1%) were the major constituents of the oil. Beta-pinene made up only 5.8% of the oil but accounted for 13.2% of the SPME chromatogram peak area. This difference in composition may be due to either sampling technique or harvesting time.