Caryophyllene from Juniperus communis and Juniperus virginiana Romanian extracts

This paper presents the study of Juniperus communis and Juniperus virginiana extracts. Several extractions were carried out using different solvents (tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, hexane, ethyl acetate and toluene) and all extracts were analyzed using Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy. The identification of compounds was done using NIST database. The twigs with ripe berries, the berries and branches of Juniperus communis and Juniperus virginiana were collected from three habitats of Romania. The extracts were obtained from dry berries, berries and branches by refluxing extraction into different solvents. Caryophyllene was found in all analyzed extracts (max. 4.49%). Chloroform extract from branches contained a greater amount of this sesquiterpenoid. The GC-MS analyses of extracts also revealed that the caryophyllene percentage depends on the Juniper species, on the parts of plant extracted and solvents used.