The composition of the volatile oil obtained by hydrodistillation of air-dried aerial parts of Satureja sahendica Bornm, Lamiaceae from Maragheh district in Northwest Iran has been studied by GC / MS. Thirty-seven compounds representing 96.9% of the total oil were identified. Monoterpenoids (including monoterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated monoterpenes) were the main (94.2%) class of identified components, followed by a minor proportion of sesquiterpenoids (All C₁₅ compounds) (2.5%). Monoterpene hydrocarbons (60.6%) and oxygenated monoterpenes (33.6%) were the dominant subclass of identified constituents occurring in higher proportions. The main monoterpene hydrocarbons of the oil were γ-terpinene (42.2%), p-cymene (6.5%), α-terpinene (5.1%), myrcene (2.3%), limonene (1.1%) and α-thujene (1%). Carvacrol (31.9%) was the predominant representative of oxygenated monoterpene components. Sesquiterpenoids were the minor class of volatile oil components with β-bisabolene (1.4%) as the main one. In total, the studied Satureja sahendica Bornm. oil was found to be rich in monoterpenoids with significant amounts of γ-terpinene and carvacrol.

Keywords: Satureja sahendica Bornm., Lamiaceae, volatile oil components, GC / MS, γ-terpinene, carvacrol, p-cymene, α-terpinene