Chemical variability of peel and leaf essential oils of mandarins from Citrus reticulata Blanco

Peel and leaf oils of 41 mandarin cultivars, belonging to the Citrus reticulata Blanco species, were obtained from fruits and leaves collected on mandarin trees submitted to the same pedoclimatic and cultural conditions. Their chemical composition was investigated by capillary GC, GC/MS and C-13 NMR and the results were submitted to a cluster analysis and a discriminant analysis. Two major chemotypes, limonene and limonene/gamma-terpinene, were distinguished for peel oils while three major chemotypes, sabinene/linalool, linalool/gamma-terpinene and methyl N-methylanthranilate, were observed for leaf oils. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.