Mark Bishop

Analytical Chemistry and

Signal Acquisition/Analysis



Curry Leaves Murraya koenigii

fruit fruit  fruit

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
Choudhury, R. P., & Garg, A. N. (2007). Variation in essential, trace and toxic elemental contents in Murraya koenigii – a spice and medicinal herb from different Indian states. Food Chemistry, 104, 1454–1463.
Chowdhury, A. R. (2000). Essential oil from the leaves of Murraya koenigii (Linn.) Spreng. Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Sciences, 22, 643–645.
Chowdhury, J. U., Bhuiyan, M. N. I., & Yusuf, N. (2008). Chemical composition of the leaf essential oils of Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. and Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack. Bangladesh Journal of Pharmacology, 3, 59–63.
Hiremath, S. H., Madelgeri, B. B., & Masarkar, P. B. (1996). Essential oil constituents of wild curry leaf (Murraya koenigii Spreng.). Indian Perfumer, 40, 110–112.
Li, Q., Zhu, L. F., But, P. P. H., Kong, Y. C., Chang, H. T., & Waterman, P. G. (1988). Monoterpene and sesquiterpene rich oils from the leaves of Murraya species: Chemotaxonomic significance. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 16, 491–494.
MacLeod, A. J., & Pieris, N. M. (1982). Analysis of the volatile essential oils of Murraya koenigii and Pandanus latifolius. Phytochemistry, 21, 1653–1657.
Mallavarapu, G. R., Rao, L., & Ramesh, S. (2000). Volatile constituents of the leaf and fruit oils of Murraya koenigii Spreng. Journal of Essential Oil Research, 12, 766–768.
Onayade, O. A., & Adebajo, A. C. (2000). Composition of the oil of Murraya koenigii growing in Nigeria. Journal of Herbs Spices and Medicinal Plants, 7, 59–66.
Raina, V. K., Lal, R. K., Tripathi, S., Khan, M., Syamasundar, K. V., & Srivastava, S. K. (2002). Essential oil composition of genetically diverse stocks of Murraya koenigii. Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 17, 144–146.
Rana, V. S., Juyal, J. P., Rashmi & Blazquez, M. A. (2004). Chemical constituents of the volatile oil of Murraya koenigii leaves. International Journal of Aromatherapy, 14, 23–25.
Rao, B.R. Rajeswara, D.K. Rajput, G.R. Mallavarapu (2011). Chemical diversity in curry leaf (Murraya koenigii) essential oils. Food Chemistry 126 (2011) 989–994.
Walde, S. G., Jyothirmayi, T., Prabhakara Rao, P. G., Shivaswamy, R., & Srinivas, P. (2005). Flavour volatiles of leaves, fruits and seed cotyledons of Murraya koenigii. Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 20, 169–172.
Walde, S. G., Jyothirmayi, T., Prabhakara Rao, P. G., & Srinivas, P. (2006). Flavour volatiles of flowers and stalks of Murraya koenigii L. Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 21, 581–584.
Wong, K. C., & Chee, S. G. (1996). Volatile constituents of Murraya koenigii Spreng. flowers. Journal of Essential Oil Research, 8, 545–547.
Wong, K. C., & Tie, D. Y. (1993). The essential oil of the leaves of Murraya koenigii Spreng. Journal of Essential Oil Research, 5, 371–374.