Mark Bishop
Analytical Chemistry and
Signal Acquisition/Analysis
Curry Leaves Murraya koenigii
About curry leaves: wikipedia.org
Essential oil
Several investigators have examined the composition of
the curry leaf's essential oil. Composition varies substantially
from location to location. This chemical diversity is very well
demonstrated in Chemical diversity in curry leaf (Murraya
koenigii) essential oils (Rao, et. al 2011). This study
identified ninety different components. Below is a truncated
table of results from this publication. The table includes only
the compounds that had maximum levels above 2%. The ten
locations are various locations within India.
| Location # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Range |
| Monoterpenes | (wild) |
||||||||||
| a-Pinene | 12.6 | 14.2 | 35.7 | 13.5 | 6.2 | 13.5 | 3.8 | 14.9 | 13.6 | 55.7 | 3.8 - 55.7 |
| b-Pinene | 1.7 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 2.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 10.6 | 0.1 - 10.6 |
| Myrcene | 2.3 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.6 - 2.7 |
| a-Phellandrene | 6.8 | 5.6 | 0.9 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 4.1 | 3.0 | - | ND - 6.8 |
| p-Cymene | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.1 - 2.2 |
| Limonene | 6.1 | 3.7 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 5.1 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 - 6.1 |
| b-Phellandrene | 50.2 | 47.7 | 27.1 | 30.2 | 7.0 | 14.7 | 7.3 | 41.0 | 36.0 | 5.3 | 5.3 - 50.2 |
| (Z)-b-Ocimene | 0.2 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 2.1 | 0.3 | - | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | T | ND - 2.1 |
| (E)-b-Ocimene | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.1 | 3.7 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 6.3 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 - 6.3 |
| Oxygenated monoterpenes | |||||||||||
| Linalool | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 4.2 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.1 - 4.2 |
| Lavandulol | T | 0.2 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 8.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | T | <0.1 - 8.9 |
| Geraniol | T | T | 0.1 | 11.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | T | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | <0.1 - 11.4 |
| Geranyl acetate | T | T | 0.1 | 2.4 | T | 0.2 | T | - | - | T | ND - 2.4 |
| Sesquiterpenes | |||||||||||
| b-Elemene | T | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 - 2.7 |
| (E)-Caryophyllene | 11.2 | 8.7 | 3.2 | 12.8 | 31.5 | 4.1 | 26.5 | 7.8 | 13.7 | 10.4 | 3.2 - 31.5 |
| a-Humulene | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 6.5 | 1.5 | 5.9 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 0.7 - 6.5 |
| cis-b-Guaiene | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 4.8 | 1.6 | 5.8 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 - 5.8 |
| a-Selinene | 0.5 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.5 | 2.5 | 10.4 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 - 10.4 |
| Oxygenated sesquiterpenes | |||||||||||
| Spathulenol | T | 0.1 | 0.1 | T | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 | <0.1 - 1.9 |
| Caryophyllene oxide | T | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 6.2 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | <0.1 - 6.2 |
| 1,10-di-epi-Cubenola | - | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | ND - 2.4 |
| Selina-11-en-4a-ol | - | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 6.3 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 0.4 | ND - 6.3 |
Rao's investigation shows that pinene levels are significantly higher in wild curry leaves than in domestic leaves. Perhaps cultivators are selecting towards more flavorful chemical variants... a matter of taste. For certain, with this chemical diversity, an individual raised in any given location would find that; nowhere else was the rasam quite like mom's
References
Fruit, flower, leaves photo credit to http://toptropicals.com
and
http://www.besgroup.org/2012/05/22/asian-koel-takes-murraya-koenigii-fruits
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