Simultaneous Determination of Essential Oil Components and Fatty Acids in Fennel using Gas Chromatography with a Polar Capillary Column.

Cultivated and wild growing samples of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill., Apiaceae) from R. Macedonia were studied for their volatiles and fatty acid composition. The main essential oil components isolated via hydrodistillation were: trans-anethole (>80%), estragole (< 6%), limonene (< 6%), anisaldehyde (< 1%) and 0.5 % fenchone. An alternative method for characterization of both the non-polar volatile and non volatile fractions was developed using n-hexane and dichloromethane (3:1, v/v) in a Soxhlet extraction followed by transesterification. The obtained extracts were then characterized and the dominant fatty acid was 18:1 (petroselinic and oleic acid) 75.0-82.8%, followed by 18:2 (linoleic acid) 10.8-16.2% and other fatty acids: palmitic (4.3-6.9%), stearic (1.2-1.7%) and myristic (0-2.9%). The results for the volatile fraction after Soxhlet extraction and transesterification did not significantly differ from results obtained after hydrodistillation, especially for the main components (trans-anethole, estragole, fenchone and limonene), implying that the developed method can be used for simultaneous determination of volatiles and fatty acids.