Clinopodium nepeta (L.) Kuntze from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Chemical Characterisation of Headspace and Essential Oil of Fresh and Dried Samples

The samples of Clinopodium nepeta (L.) Kuntze (Lamiaceae) aerial parts were collected from four different localities in sub-Mediterranean area of Bosnia and Herzegovina and subjected to phytochemical profiling. Shade-dried and fresh samples were used to determine their headspace volatile organic composition by solid-phase microextraction on two differently coated fibers. Corresponding essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation. Both headspace and essential oil were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry Among detected compounds, piperitenone oxide and pulegone were dominant in the headspace of shade-dried and fresh C. nepeta samples. The essential oils contained 42 compounds including pulegone (44.8%), piperitenone (48.8%) and piperitenone oxide (60.2%) as the major compounds, followed by limonene, cispiperitone oxide, p-menthone and dihydrocarvyl acetate. In this work, a wide range of volatile compounds present in C. nepeta samples from Bosnia and Herzegovina was determined. The obtained data provides detail phytochemical analysis of the volatiles of C. nepeta and therefore completes earlier researches of this plant from the other geographical areas.