Composition of terpenes as the dominant part of juniper berry essential oils

The genus Juniperus contains plants that are primarily used in the food industry for distillate production, with notable examples being gin and a specific Slovak traditional spirit borovička. During the production process of borovička, traditionally manufactured from the berries of Juniperus communis L., or nowadays from Juniperus oxycedrus L., juniper berry essential oil is produced as a by-product. It is subsequently used for further applications in food industry and for certain pharmaceutical purposes. Gas chromatographic methods were involved in analysis and evaluation of commercially produced juniper berry essential oils together with oils obtained in laboratory. Generally, juniper berry essential oil is comprised primarily of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and their oxidized derivatives. In our study, depending on the juniper species, berry essential oils were dominantly represented by alpha-pinene (23.5–36.0 %), myrcene (11.8–18.9 %), limonene (1.1–13.5 %), terpinen-4-ol (0.5–6.2 %), betacaryophyllene (3.4–5.3 %), alpha-humulene (1.8–4.2 %) and germacrene D (1.0–9.7 %). This work is an introductory study focusing on qualitative and quantitative differences between the terpenic profiles of juniper berry essential oils gained from J. communis and J. oxycedrus in laboratory, and juniper essential oils gained as a by-product from borovička production.