Identification of Volatile Constituents’ Profile of Zygophyllum aegyptium A. Hosny by GC/MS Analysis

Zygophyllum aegyptium A. Hosny is an important medicinal plant natively grows in Mediterranean coastal regions of Egypt. Volatile secondary metabolites were extracted using the less polar solvents hexane and methylene chloride. The volatile constituents were identified using GC/MS technique to yield thirty-seven compounds belonging to acetogenins, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and sterols classes. Saturated fatty esters (59.51%) and unsaturated fatty acids (22.21%) are the more dominant in hexane fraction while for methylene chloride extract, acetogenins (93.12%), diterpenes (0.82%) and sterols (2.21%) are the major classes. The most predominant constituents ˃ 5% in the two extracts were methyl hexadecanoate, methyl linoleate, methyl docosanoate and methyl stearate which considered to be valuable constituents in industrial, pharmacological and biotechnological applications.