The genus Cinnamomum

Chemistry of Cinnamon and Cassia 83
Ethyl cinnamate 10
Cinnamyl acetate 9,10,13
Eugenol 1,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,13
Acetyl eugenol 3,9,10
O-methyl eugenol 6,7,13
Cavacrol 9
Cinnamyl alcohol 3,9,10
Benzyl benzoate 3,5,7,10,13
2-Phenyl ethanol 11
3-Phenyl propanal 13
Thymol 11
References for Table:
1. Walbaum and Huthis (1902). 8. Betts (1965).
2. Pilgrim (1909). 9. Angmor et al. (1972).
3. Glichitech (1924). 10. Wijesekera et al. (1974).
4. Shintare and Rao (1932). 11. Zurcher et al. (1974).
5. Guenther (1950). 12. Senanayake and Wijesekara (1989).
6. Bhramaramba and Mahboob (1963). 13. Chalchat and Valade (2000).
7. Bhramaramba and Sidhu (1963).
Notes
TLC: Thin layer chromatography.
GLC: Gas liquid chromatography.
Angmor et al. (1972), Wijesekera and Jayewardene (1972), and Wijesekera et al.
(1974) reported systematic compositional analyses of leaf, stem bark and root bark oils
of the commercially prominent true cinnamon, C. verum, using GLC methods, the
former group working with plants growing in Ghana and the latter with those under
cultivation in Sri Lanka. C. verum leaves contained 1.2% steam volatile oil (Angmor
et al., 1972), although the oil content varied between 0.5% and 1.8% depending on the
water content of the leaves and the method of distillation (Brown, 1955, 1956;
Wijesekera, 1978). The principal constituent of leaf oil is eugenol, and again the
reported levels can vary from 65% to 92% in leaves from both sources. The most prominent
minor volatiles are -caryophyllene, linalool, safrole, cinnamic aldehyde, cinnamyl
acetate, cinnamyl alcohol and benzyl benzoate (Table 3.1). The presence of benzyl
benzoate was reported for the first time in cinnamon by the Wijesekera group (1974)
and they later proposed a likely mechanism for its formation in the plant (Wijesekera,
1978). Nath et al. (1996) reported a variety of C. verum growing in Brahmaputra Valley,
India, containing benzyl benzoate as its major constituent in the leaf (65.4%) and bark
(84.7%) oils. Chalchat and Valade (2000) analysed the bark oil of cinnamon growing
in Madagascar and found 52.2% cinnamaldehyde together with 15.2% camphor. Raina
et al. (2001) reported the leaf essential oil composition of cinnamon growing in Little
Andaman (located in the Andaman and Nicobar group of islands in Indian ocean).
Forty-seven constituents have been identified that constitute 99.96% of oil. The main
components are eugenol (76.60%), linalool (8.50%), piperitone (3.31%), cinnamyl
acetate (2.59%), eugenyl acetate (2.74%) and -phellandrene (1.19%).
The yield of the stem bark oil can vary from 0.4% to 0.8% and root bark oil from
0.9 to 2.8% (Angmor et al., 1972; Wijesekera, 1978). It is possible that the yield of
oil will vary with the type and age of the plant, as well as water content of the material
and the method of distillation. Cinnamic aldehyde and camphor are the major