The genus Cinnamomum

Chemistry of Cinnamon and Cassia 113
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of Cinnamomi cortex. VII. Two novel diterpenes from bark of Cinnamomum cassia.
Phytochemistry, 21, 2130–2132.
Nohara, T., Kashiwada, Y. and Nishioka, I. (1985) Cinncassiol E, a diterpene from the bark of
Cinnamomum cassia. Phytochemistry, 24, 1849–1850.
Nonaka, G. and Nishioka, I. (1980, 1982) (Cited from Morimoto et al., 1986).
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Summons, 1970).
Yagi, A., Tokubuchi, N., Nohara, T., Monaka, G., Nishioka, I. and Koda, A. (1980) The
constituents of cinnamomi cortex. 1 Structures of cinncassiol A and its glucoside. Chem.
Pharm. Bull., 28, 1432–1436.
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of Cinnamomum cassia. Phytochemistry, 29, 1559–1562.
Annex 3.2 Additional information provided by the editors on the chemical
composition of cinnamon
Vernin et al. (1994) carried out detailed studies on cinnamon and cassia essential oils.
They conducted GC-MS analyses and also headspace analyses. These workers separated
a total of 142 compounds, and they could identify 90 compounds definitely and 11
compounds tentatively, while 41 compounds remained unidentified. Among the 90
identified compounds, 25 were reported for the first time in cinnamon oil. The more
important compounds present in commercial samples of cinnamon and cassia oils are
given in Table 3A.1 and in Annex 3.3.
The criteria used to distinguish between cinnamon and cassia oils are the small amounts
of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes in cassia oil as compared to cinnamon oil, and an
increased content of benzaldehyde, o-methoxycinnamaldehyde, and coumarin in cassia oil.
Vernin et al. (1994) also carried out headspace analyses of the above essential oils, as
well as the quills and powdered cinnamon and cassia. The results of the analyses provided
valuable information about the content of volatile components responsible for the
desirable characteristics of these spices and consequently for their quality (Table 3A.2).
Vernin et al. (1994) also carried out a detailed analysis of cinnamon and cassia
obtained from different sources. The headspace composition for cinnamon and cassia
quills of different origin is given in Table 3A.3.
In 1997 Koketsu et al. reported the leaf oil composition of C. verum grown in Parana,
Brazil. Using GC and GC-MS, these authors resolved two chemical races among the
trees, one rich in eugenol (94–95%), the other rich in eugenol and safrole (Table 3A.4).
Jirovetz et al. (1998) reported the comparative chemical composition of cinnamon
leaf oils produced from leaves obtained from Cameroon compared with that of
commercial sample of oil from Seychelles. The results of this GC and GC-MS study are
summarised in Table 3A.5.
Jirovetz et al. (2001) recently reported the oil composition of a sample of oil produced
from cinnamon leaves from Calicut, India. This GC and GC-MS study gave the results
shown in Table 3A.6. The major components of this oil were found to be linalool
(85.7%). It is the first time that cinnamon oil has been found in which linalool and not
eugenol was the major component.
Mallavarapu and Ramesh (2000) analysed an oil produced from fruits of cinnamon
using GC and GC-MS (Table 3A.4). The composition of fruit oil is found to be different
from that of leaf oil.