Volatile constituents from flowers, leaves, bark and wood of Prunus mahaleb L

Volatile constituents from air‐dried flowers, leaves, stem‐bark and wood of Prunus mahaleb L. (Rosaceae) were isolated by steam‐distillation and analysed using GC and GC–MS; 130 components were identified. Aliphatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, carbonyls, fatty acids, terpenes, C13‐norisoprenoids and phenylpropane derivatives were detected. Coumarin was identified as the main component of the bark volatiles (34.1%). Hexadecanoic acid was the main component in the wood (46.0%), and was also present in the leaves (17.8%) and bark (9.3%). n‐Alkanes, heneicosane (22.1%) and octacosane (13.0%) were identified as the main components in the flowers, while eicosane was detected in the wood (12.9%). Phytol was identified in the leaves (5.1%). Dodecanoic, tetradecanoic and linoleic acids were present in all samples among the major components. The contents of volatile compounds were 340.0 mg/kg (flowers), 64.6 mg/kg (leaves), 41.0 mg/kg (bark) and 6.6 mg/kg (wood). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.