VOLATILE COMPONENTS OF THE LEAVES OF VARIOUS AVOCADO CULTIVARS

The essential oils from the steam distillation of the leaves of avocados of three racial lineages were assayed by use of capillary column gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Estragole and two unidentified peaks were present only in the leaves of the five Mexican race avocados. The areas of the 54 major peaks in the 15 cultivars studied were subjected to principal component analysis, and the patterns of the three major factors were plotted. In all plots the members of the Mexican race were well separated into tight clusters but members of the Guatemalan and West Indian races formed loose, overlapping clusters. Previously unreported constituents of avocado leaves identified in this study were alpha-phellandrene, gamma-terpinene, D-limonene, D-carvone, and cis-3-hexen-1-ol.